diff --git a/lib/open.cc b/lib/open.cc
index 77f01f72..6fa00a84 100644
--- a/lib/open.cc
+++ b/lib/open.cc
@@ -714,10 +714,16 @@ notmuch_database_create_with_config (const char *database_path,
 	else
 	    free (message);
     }
+    if (status && notmuch) {
+	notmuch_database_destroy (notmuch);
+	notmuch = NULL;
+    }
+
     if (database)
 	*database = notmuch;
-    else
-	talloc_free (notmuch);
+
+    if (notmuch)
+	notmuch->open = true;
     return status;
 }
 
diff --git a/test/T590-libconfig.sh b/test/T590-libconfig.sh
index adb9b6e7..bed887aa 100755
--- a/test/T590-libconfig.sh
+++ b/test/T590-libconfig.sh
@@ -891,7 +891,6 @@ EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 test_begin_subtest "create: database set to null on missing config"
-test_subtest_known_broken
 cat c_head3 - c_tail3 <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR} "/nonexistent"
   notmuch_status_t st = notmuch_database_create_with_config(argv[1],argv[2], NULL, &db, NULL);
 EOF
@@ -903,7 +902,6 @@ EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 test_begin_subtest "create: database set to null on missing config (env)"
-test_subtest_known_broken
 old_NOTMUCH_CONFIG=${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}
 NOTMUCH_CONFIG="/nonexistent"
 cat c_head3 - c_tail3 <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}