diff --git a/pebble.go b/pebble.go
index 18c4cec..e425845 100644
--- a/pebble.go
+++ b/pebble.go
@@ -24,6 +24,17 @@ var _ DB = (*PebbleDB)(nil)
 
 func NewPebbleDB(name string, dir string) (*PebbleDB, error) {
 	opts := &pebble.Options{}
+	// EnsureDefaults would settle on FormatMostCompatible and leave it there
+	// for the database's whole life, which pebble v2 refuses to open -- and
+	// refuses before it would migrate anything, so no v2 build can do this for
+	// itself. Upgrading here readies a node for that bump instead of failing
+	// to start after it.
+	//
+	// FlushableIngest rather than FormatNewest is exactly what v2 needs: the
+	// next version up holds the open until every table predating the Pebblev1
+	// format has been rewritten, which here is all of them. Stopping short
+	// leaves those to ordinary compaction.
+	opts.FormatMajorVersion = pebble.FormatFlushableIngest
 	opts.EnsureDefaults()
 	return NewPebbleDBWithOpts(name, dir, opts)
 }
diff --git a/pebble_test.go b/pebble_test.go
index 0d06be1..95355cd 100644
--- a/pebble_test.go
+++ b/pebble_test.go
@@ -3,12 +3,52 @@ package db
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
+// TestPebbleRatchetsFormatMajorVersion covers the upgrade this option exists
+// for. NewPebbleDB has to move an existing database forward, not just new
+// ones, since every node already has one from before this.
+//
+// The test goes when the migration does: v2 deleted FormatMostCompatible, so
+// none of it compiles there. Delete it rather than repair it -- but carry the
+// ceiling assertion over. Staying below FormatNewest is not about the
+// migration; it is what leaves a database readable by the release before, and
+// it stays true on v2. Dropping the test takes that with it and nothing says
+// so.
+func TestPebbleRatchetsFormatMajorVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+
+	// What a node that has never run this code has on disk.
+	old, err := pebble.Open(filepath.Join(dir, "test.db"), &pebble.Options{})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, pebble.FormatMostCompatible, old.FormatMajorVersion(),
+		"pebble's own default is the version v2 refuses")
+	require.NoError(t, old.Set([]byte("key"), []byte("value"), pebble.Sync))
+	require.NoError(t, old.Close())
+
+	db, err := NewPebbleDB("test", dir)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer db.Close()
+
+	// FlushableIngest is pebble v2's FormatMinSupported, which is the point.
+	// Staying below FormatNewest is the other half: the next version up would
+	// not return from the open above until every table had been rewritten.
+	vers := db.DB().FormatMajorVersion()
+	require.Equal(t, pebble.FormatFlushableIngest, vers)
+	require.Less(t, vers, pebble.FormatNewest,
+		"going further would put a full rewrite in front of the node's first start")
+
+	got, err := db.Get([]byte("key"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, []byte("value"), got, "the upgrade must carry the data over")
+}
+
 func TestPebbleDBBackend(t *testing.T) {
 	name := fmt.Sprintf("test_%x", randStr(12))
 	dir := os.TempDir()