A run-time environment implemented as system services and component integration interfaces provides a capability for components of a component-based server application to reversibly disable committal of a transaction in which the component participates. On return from a call to the component which leaves the component's transactional work in an invalid state, the component can disable commit of the transaction so as to avoid premature committal of the component's transactional work. On return from a call to the component which renders the component's transactional work in a valid state, the component re-enables commit of the transaction. If committal of the transaction is initiated when any component in the transaction disables commit, the transaction is aborted.