diff --git a/swh/journal/publisher.py b/swh/journal/publisher.py
index d69c452..366e633 100644
--- a/swh/journal/publisher.py
+++ b/swh/journal/publisher.py
@@ -1,119 +1,123 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2016  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 from collections import defaultdict
 import logging
 
 from kafka import KafkaProducer, KafkaConsumer
 
 from swh.core.config import SWHConfig
 from swh.storage import get_storage
 
 from .serializers import kafka_to_value, value_to_kafka
 
 
 class SWHJournalPublisher(SWHConfig):
     DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
         'brokers': ('list[str]', ['getty.internal.softwareheritage.org']),
 
         'temporary_prefix': ('str', 'swh.tmp_journal.new'),
         'final_prefix': ('str', 'swh.journal.test_publisher'),
 
         'consumer_id': ('str', 'swh.journal.publisher.test'),
         'publisher_id': ('str', 'swh.journal.publisher.test'),
 
         'object_types': ('list[str]', ['content', 'revision', 'release']),
 
         'storage': ('dict', {
             'cls': 'remote',
             'args': {
                 'url': 'http://localhost:5002/',
             }
         }),
+
+        'max_messages': ('int', 10000),
     }
 
     CONFIG_BASE_FILENAME = 'journal/publisher'
 
     def __init__(self, extra_configuration=None):
         self.config = config = self.parse_config_file()
         if extra_configuration:
             config.update(extra_configuration)
 
         self.storage = get_storage(**config['storage'])
 
         self.consumer = KafkaConsumer(
             bootstrap_servers=config['brokers'],
             value_deserializer=kafka_to_value,
             auto_offset_reset='earliest',
             enable_auto_commit=False,
             group_id=config['consumer_id'],
         )
         self.producer = KafkaProducer(
             bootstrap_servers=config['brokers'],
             value_serializer=value_to_kafka,
             client_id=config['publisher_id'],
         )
 
         self.consumer.subscribe(
             topics=['%s.%s' % (config['temporary_prefix'], object_type)
                     for object_type in config['object_types']],
         )
 
-    def poll(self, max_messages):
+        self.max_messages = self.config['max_messages']
+
+    def poll(self):
         """Process a batch of messages"""
         num = 0
         messages = defaultdict(list)
 
         for num, message in enumerate(self.consumer):
             object_type = message.topic.split('.')[-1]
             messages[object_type].append(message.value)
-            if num >= max_messages:
+            if num >= self.max_messages:
                 break
 
         new_objects = self.process_objects(messages)
         self.produce_messages(new_objects)
         self.consumer.commit()
 
     def process_objects(self, messages):
         processors = {
             'content': self.process_contents,
             'revision': self.process_revisions,
             'release': self.process_releases,
         }
 
         return {
             key: processors[key](value)
             for key, value in messages.items()
         }
 
     def produce_messages(self, messages):
         for object_type, objects in messages.items():
             topic = '%s.%s' % (self.config['final_prefix'], object_type)
             for key, object in objects:
                 self.producer.send(topic, key=key, value=object)
 
         self.producer.flush()
 
     def process_contents(self, content_objs):
         metadata = self.storage.content_get_metadata(content_objs)
         return [(content['sha1'], content) for content in metadata]
 
     def process_revisions(self, revision_objs):
         metadata = self.storage.revision_get(revision_objs)
         return [(revision['id'], revision) for revision in metadata]
 
     def process_releases(self, release_objs):
         metadata = self.storage.release_get(release_objs)
         return [(release['id'], release) for release in metadata]
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     logging.basicConfig(
         level=logging.INFO,
         format='%(asctime)s %(process)d %(levelname)s %(message)s'
     )
     publisher = SWHJournalPublisher()
     while True:
-        publisher.poll(10000)
+        publisher.poll()