Index: dbfile.scm
==================================================================
--- dbfile.scm
+++ dbfile.scm
@@ -445,18 +445,20 @@
 ;; if we are not a server create a db handle. this is not finalized
 ;; so watch for problems. I'm still not clear if it is needed to manually
 ;; finalize sqlite3 dbs with the sqlite3 egg.
 ;;
 (define (db:no-sync-db db-in)
-  (mutex-lock! *db-access-mutex*)
-  (let ((res (if db-in
-                 db-in
-                 (let ((db (dbfile:open-no-sync-db)))
-                   (set! *no-sync-db* db)
-                   db))))
-    (mutex-unlock! *db-access-mutex*)
-    res))
+  (if db-in
+      db-in
+      (if *no-sync-db*
+	  *no-sync-db*
+	  (begin
+	    (mutex-lock! *db-access-mutex*)
+	    (let ((db (dbfile:open-no-sync-db)))
+	      (set! *no-sync-db* db)
+	      (mutex-unlock! *db-access-mutex*)
+	      db)))))
 
 (define (dbfile:open-no-sync-db dbpath)
   (let* (;; (dbpath (db:dbfile-path))
 	 (dbname (conc dbpath "/no-sync.db"))
 	 (db-exists (file-exists? dbname))