diff --git a/lib/indexopts.c b/lib/indexopts.c
index 1e8d180e..82a0026f 100644
--- a/lib/indexopts.c
+++ b/lib/indexopts.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ notmuch_database_get_default_indexopts (notmuch_database_t *db)
     char *decrypt_policy;
     notmuch_status_t err = notmuch_database_get_config (db, "index.decrypt", &decrypt_policy);
     if (err)
-	return ret;
+	return NULL;
 
     if (decrypt_policy) {
 	if ((! (strcasecmp (decrypt_policy, "true"))) ||
diff --git a/lib/notmuch.h b/lib/notmuch.h
index f9e9cc41..aaf92470 100644
--- a/lib/notmuch.h
+++ b/lib/notmuch.h
@@ -2320,6 +2320,7 @@ notmuch_config_list_destroy (notmuch_config_list_t *config_list);
  * added to the index.  At the moment it is a featureless stub.
  *
  * @since libnotmuch 5.1 (notmuch 0.26)
+ * @retval NULL in case of error
  */
 notmuch_indexopts_t *
 notmuch_database_get_default_indexopts (notmuch_database_t *db);
diff --git a/test/T562-lib-database.sh b/test/T562-lib-database.sh
index 32fda72e..ce62eaa8 100755
--- a/test/T562-lib-database.sh
+++ b/test/T562-lib-database.sh
@@ -373,7 +373,6 @@ EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 test_begin_subtest "get indexopts from closed database"
-test_subtest_known_broken
 cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
     {
         notmuch_indexopts_t *result;