diff --git a/notmuch-dump.c b/notmuch-dump.c
index 887a2082..9c6ad7f4 100644
--- a/notmuch-dump.c
+++ b/notmuch-dump.c
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ notmuch_dump_command (notmuch_config_t *config, int argc, char *argv[])
     int ret;
 
     if (notmuch_database_open (notmuch_config_get_database_path (config),
-			       NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_ONLY, &notmuch))
+			       NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_WRITE, &notmuch))
 	return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
     char *output_file_name = NULL;
diff --git a/test/T150-tagging.sh b/test/T150-tagging.sh
index dc118f33..45471ac8 100755
--- a/test/T150-tagging.sh
+++ b/test/T150-tagging.sh
@@ -247,8 +247,8 @@ ${TEST_DIRECTORY}/random-corpus --config-path=${NOTMUCH_CONFIG} \
 notmuch dump --format=batch-tag | sed 's/^.* -- /+common_tag -- /' | \
     sort > EXPECTED
 
-notmuch dump --format=batch-tag | sed 's/^.* -- /  -- /' | \
-    notmuch restore --format=batch-tag
+notmuch dump --format=batch-tag | sed 's/^.* -- /  -- /' > INTERMEDIATE_STEP
+notmuch restore --format=batch-tag < INTERMEDIATE_STEP
 
 notmuch tag --batch < EXPECTED