Index: lucene/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestBackwardsCompatibility.java
===================================================================
--- lucene/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestBackwardsCompatibility.java	(revision 1026425)
+++ lucene/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestBackwardsCompatibility.java	(working copy)
@@ -183,7 +183,15 @@
       } finally {
         if (reader != null) reader.close();
         reader = null;
-        if (writer != null) writer.close();
+        if (writer != null) {
+          try {
+            writer.close();
+          } catch (IndexFormatTooOldException e) {
+            // OK -- since IW gives merge scheduler a chance
+            // to merge at close, it's possible and fine to
+            // hit this exc here
+          }
+        }
         writer = null;
       }
       
Index: lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/IndexWriter.java
===================================================================
--- lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/IndexWriter.java	(revision 1026431)
+++ lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/IndexWriter.java	(working copy)
@@ -3662,7 +3662,7 @@
           // This merge (and, generally, any change to the
           // segments) may now enable new merges, so we call
           // merge policy & update pending merges.
-          if (success && !merge.isAborted() && !closed && !closing) {
+          if (success && !merge.isAborted() && (merge.optimize || (!closed && !closing))) {
             updatePendingMerges(merge.maxNumSegmentsOptimize, merge.optimize);
           }
         }