diff --git a/swh/provenance/postgresql/provenancedb_base.py b/swh/provenance/postgresql/provenancedb_base.py
--- a/swh/provenance/postgresql/provenancedb_base.py
+++ b/swh/provenance/postgresql/provenancedb_base.py
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 
 
 class ProvenanceDBBase:
+    raise_on_commit: bool = False
+
     def __init__(self, conn: psycopg2.extensions.connection):
         # TODO: consider adding a mutex for thread safety
         conn.set_isolation_level(psycopg2.extensions.ISOLATION_LEVEL_AUTOCOMMIT)
@@ -40,17 +42,18 @@
         self.select_cache = {"content": dict(), "directory": dict(), "revision": dict()}
 
     def commit(self):
-        result = False
         try:
             self.insert_all()
             self.clear_caches()
-            result = True
+            return True
 
-        except Exception as error:
+        except:  # noqa: E722
             # Unexpected error occurred, rollback all changes and log message
-            logging.error(f"Unexpected error: {error}")
+            logging.exception("Unexpected error")
+            if self.raise_on_commit:
+                raise
 
-        return result
+        return False
 
     def content_get_early_date(self, blob: FileEntry) -> Optional[datetime]:
         # First check if the date is being modified by current transection.
diff --git a/swh/provenance/provenance.py b/swh/provenance/provenance.py
--- a/swh/provenance/provenance.py
+++ b/swh/provenance/provenance.py
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 @runtime_checkable
 class ProvenanceInterface(Protocol):
+    raise_on_commit: bool = False
+
     def commit(self):
         """Commit currently ongoing transactions in the backend DB"""
         ...
diff --git a/swh/provenance/tests/conftest.py b/swh/provenance/tests/conftest.py
--- a/swh/provenance/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/swh/provenance/tests/conftest.py
@@ -41,7 +41,10 @@
     )
 
     BaseDb.adapt_conn(provenance_db)
-    return ProvenanceDB(provenance_db)
+    prov = ProvenanceDB(provenance_db)
+    # in test sessions, we DO want to raise any exception occurring at commit time
+    prov.raise_on_commit = True
+    return prov
 
 
 @pytest.fixture