diff --git a/swh/core/cli/__init__.py b/swh/core/cli/__init__.py
--- a/swh/core/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/swh/core/cli/__init__.py
@@ -7,23 +7,31 @@
 import logging
 import pkg_resources
 
+LOG_LEVEL_NAMES = ['NOTSET', 'WARN', 'DEBUG', 'CRITICAL', 'WARNING',
+                   'ERROR', 'INFO']
+
+CONTEXT_SETTINGS = dict(help_option_names=['-h', '--help'])
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-CONTEXT_SETTINGS = dict(help_option_names=['-h', '--help'])
+def log_level_option(f):
+    def callback(ctx, param, value):
+        log_level = logging.getLevelName(value)
+        logger.setLevel(log_level)
+        return log_level
+    return click.option('--log-level', '-l', default='INFO',
+                        type=click.Choice(LOG_LEVEL_NAMES),
+                        help="Log level (default to INFO)",
+                        callback=callback)(f)
 
 
 @click.group(context_settings=CONTEXT_SETTINGS)
-@click.option('--log-level', '-l', default='INFO',
-              type=click.Choice(logging._nameToLevel.keys()),
-              help="Log level (default to INFO)")
 @click.pass_context
-def swh(ctx, log_level):
-    """Software Heritage Tool
+def swh(ctx):
+    """Command line interface for Software Heritage
     """
-    logger.setLevel(log_level)
-    ctx.ensure_object(dict)
-    ctx.obj['log_level'] = logging._nameToLevel[log_level]
+    pass
 
 
 def main():
diff --git a/swh/core/cli/db.py b/swh/core/cli/db.py
--- a/swh/core/cli/db.py
+++ b/swh/core/cli/db.py
@@ -10,15 +10,17 @@
 
 import click
 
+from swh.core.cli import CONTEXT_SETTINGS, log_level_option
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-@click.command()
+@click.command(context_settings=CONTEXT_SETTINGS)
+@log_level_option
 @click.argument('module', nargs=-1, required=True)
 @click.option('--db-name', '-d', help='Database name.',
               default='softwareheritage-dev', show_default=True)
-def db_init(module, db_name=None):
+def db_init(log_level, module, db_name=None):
     """Initialise a database for the Software Heritage <module>.  By
     default, attempts to create the database first.
 
@@ -46,6 +48,8 @@
         swh_db_version
     )
 
+    logger.setLevel(log_level)
+
     logger.debug('db_init %s dn_name=%s', module, db_name)
     dump_files = []