diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 71e60b6..ccb89e9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -433,8 +433,10 @@ Additional arguments can be passed to `./SewerRat` to control its behavior (chec
 - `-update` controls the frequency of index updates.
   This defaults to 24 hours.
 - `-session` specifies the lifetime of a registration sesssion 
-  (i.e., the maximum time between starting and finishing the registration, see below).
+  (i.e., the maximum time between starting and finishing the registration, see above).
   This defaults to 10 minutes.
+- `-checkpoint` specifies the frequency of SQLite checkpoints, to manually synchronize the write-ahead log with the SQLite database file.
+  This defaults to 60 minutes.
 - `-finish` specifies the time spent polling for the verification code after a request has been made to `/register/finish` or `/deregister/finish`.
   A non-zero value is often necessary on network filesystems where newly written files do not immediately synchronize.
   This defaults to 30 seconds.
diff --git a/database.go b/database.go
index fd3bec0..72839cf 100644
--- a/database.go
+++ b/database.go
@@ -97,10 +97,6 @@ func initializeDatabase(path string) (*sql.DB, error) {
     // time; everyone else will have to block on the connection availability.
     db.SetMaxOpenConns(1)
 
-    // Make sure to eventually close all idle connections in the pool so that
-    // SQLite actually commits its WAL journal. 
-    db.SetConnMaxIdleTime(1 * time.Minute)
-
     if (!accessible) {
         err := func () error {
             atx, err := createTransaction(db)
@@ -176,11 +172,6 @@ func initializeReadOnlyDatabase(path string) (*sql.DB, error) {
     if err != nil {
         return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to open read-only SQLite handle; %w", err)
     }
-
-    // Make sure to eventually close all idle connections in the pool so that
-    // SQLite actually commits its WAL journal. 
-    ro_db.SetConnMaxIdleTime(1 * time.Minute)
-
     return ro_db, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 4aa12dd..c197af4 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ func main() {
     timeout0 := flag.Int("finish", 30, "Maximum time spent polling for the verification code when finishing (de)registration, in seconds")
     prefix0 := flag.String("prefix", "", "Prefix to add to each endpoint, after removing any leading or trailing slashes (default \"\")")
     lifetime0 := flag.Int("session", 10, "Maximum lifetime of a (de)registration session from start to finish, in minutes")
+    checkpoint0 := flag.Int("checkpoint", 60, "Frequency of checkpoints to synchronise the WAL journal with the SQLite file, in minutes")
     flag.Parse()
 
     dbpath := *dbpath0
@@ -66,6 +67,19 @@ func main() {
 
     http.HandleFunc(prefix + "/", newDefaultHandler())
 
+    // Adding an hourly job that does a full checkpoint.
+    {
+        lifetime := time.Duration(*checkpoint0) * time.Minute
+        ticker := time.NewTicker(lifetime)
+        defer ticker.Stop()
+        go func() {
+            for {
+                <-ticker.C
+                db.Exec("PRAGMA wal_checkpoint(PASSIVE)")
+            }
+        }()
+    }
+
     // Adding a hour job that purges various old verification sessions.
     {
         lifetime := time.Duration(*lifetime0) * time.Minute