Index: common.scm
==================================================================
--- common.scm
+++ common.scm
@@ -370,10 +370,11 @@
 ;; E X I T   H A N D L I N G
 ;;======================================================================
 
 (define (common:legacy-sync-recommended)
   (or (args:get-arg "-runtests")
+      (args:get-arg "-run")
       (args:get-arg "-server")
       ;; (args:get-arg "-set-run-status")
       (args:get-arg "-remove-runs")
       ;; (args:get-arg "-get-run-status")
       ))

Index: db.scm
==================================================================
--- db.scm
+++ db.scm
@@ -215,11 +215,16 @@
     (if file-write ;; dir-writable
 	(let (;; (lock    (obtain-dot-lock fname 1 5 10))
 	      (db      (sqlite3:open-database fname)))
 	  (sqlite3:set-busy-handler! db (make-busy-timeout 136000))
 	  (db:set-sync db) ;; (sqlite3:execute db "PRAGMA synchronous = 0;")
-	  (if (not file-exists)(initproc db))
+	  (if (not file-exists)
+	      (begin
+		(if (string-match "^/tmp/.*" fname) ;; this is a file in /tmp
+		    (sqlite3:execute db "PRAGMA journal_mode=WAL;")
+		    (print "Creating " fname " in NON-WAL mode."))
+		(initproc db)))
 	  ;; (release-dot-lock fname)
 	  db)
 	(begin
 	  (debug:print 2 *default-log-port* "WARNING: opening db in non-writable dir " fname)
 	  (sqlite3:open-database fname))))) ;; )

Index: tests/fullrun/megatest.config
==================================================================
--- tests/fullrun/megatest.config
+++ tests/fullrun/megatest.config
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@
 # and set the dbdir to /var/tmp/$USER/mt_db to enable keeping
 # the raw db in /var/tmp/$USER
 #
 faststart  no
 monitordir #{getenv MT_RUN_AREA_HOME}/db
-dbdir      /tmp/#{getenv USER}/#{getenv MT_TESTSUITE_NAME}/db
+dbdir      #{scheme (create-directory "/tmp/#{getenv USER}/#{getenv MT_TESTSUITE_NAME}/db")}
 
 # sync more aggressively to megatest-db
 megatest-db yes
 
 # Set launchwait to no to use the more agressive code that does not wait for the launch to complete before proceeding