Apache CouchDB INSTALL.Unix

A high-level guide to Unix-like systems, inc. Mac OS X and Ubuntu.

Community installation guides are available on the wiki:

http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/Installation

If you are trying to build CouchDB from a git checkout rather than a .tar.gz, see the DEVELOPERS file.

This document is the canonical source of installation information. However, many systems have gotchas that you need to be aware of. In addition, dependencies frequently change as distributions update their archives. If you're running into trouble, be sure to check out the wiki. If you have any tips to share, please also update the wiki so that others can benefit from your experience.

Troubleshooting

There is a troubleshooting guide:

http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/Troubleshooting

There is a wiki for general documentation:

http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/

There are collection of friendly mailing lists:

http://couchdb.apache.org/community/lists.html

Please work through these in order if you experience any problems.

Dependencies

You should have the following installed:

It is recommended that you install Erlang OTP R16B03-1 or above where possible. You will only need libcurl if you plan to run the JavaScript test suite. And help2man is only need if you plan on installing the CouchDB man pages. Python and Sphinx are only required for building the online documentation.

Debian-based Systems


You can install the dependencies by running:

    sudo apt-get install build-essential erlang-base \
        erlang-dev erlang-manpages erlang-eunit erlang-nox \
        libicu-dev libmozjs185-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev \
        pkg-config

There are lots of Erlang packages. If there is a problem with your
install, try a different mix. There is more information on the
wiki. Additionally, you might want to install some of the optional
Erlang tools which may also be useful.

Be sure to update the version numbers to match your system's available
packages.

For up to date instructions, please see:

  http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/Installing_on_Debian

  http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/Installing_on_Ubuntu

Unfortunately, it seems that installing dependencies on Ubuntu is
troublesome.

RedHat-based (Fedora, Centos, RHEL) Systems

You can install the dependencies by running:

sudo yum install autoconf autoconf-archive automake \
    curl-devel erlang-asn1 erlang-erts erlang-eunit \
    erlang-os_mon erlang-xmerl help2man \
    js-devel libicu-devel libtool perl-Test-Harness

While CouchDB builds against the default js-devel-1.7.0 included in some distributions, it's recommended to use a more recent js-devel-1.8.5.

Mac OS X


To build CouchDB from source on Mac OS X, you will need to install
the Command Line Tools:

    xcode-select --install

You can then install the other dependencies by running:

    brew install autoconf autoconf-archive automake libtool \
        erlang icu4c spidermonkey curl pkg-config

You will need Homebrew installed to use the `brew` command.

Learn more about Homebrew at:

    http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/

Some versions of Mac OS X ship a problematic OpenSSL library. If
you're experiencing troubles with CouchDB crashing intermittently with
a segmentation fault or a bus error, you will need to install your own
version of OpenSSL. See the troubleshooting guide, mentioned above,
for more information.

FreeBSD
-------

FreeBSD requires the use of GNU Make. Where `make` is specified in this
documentation, substitute `gmake`.

You can install this by running:

    pkg install gmake

Installing
----------

Once you have satisfied the dependencies you should run:

    ./configure

This script will configure CouchDB to be installed into `/usr/local`
by default.

If you wish to customize the installation, pass `--help` to this
script.

If everything was successful you should see the following message:

    You have configured Apache CouchDB, time to relax.

Relax.

To install CouchDB you should run:

    make && sudo make install

You only need to use `sudo` if you're installing into a system directory.

Try `gmake` if `make` is giving you any problems.

If everything was successful you should see the following message:

    You have installed Apache CouchDB, time to relax.

Relax.

User Registration
-----------------

You should create a special `couchdb` user for CouchDB.

On many Unix-like systems you can run:

    adduser --system \
            --home /usr/local/var/lib/couchdb \
            --no-create-home \
            --shell /bin/bash \
            --group --gecos \
            "CouchDB Administrator" couchdb

On Mac OS X you can use the Workgroup Manager to create users:

  http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/serveradmintools1047.html

You must make sure that:

    * The user has a working POSIX shell

    * The user's home directory is `/usr/local/var/lib/couchdb`

You can test this by:

    * Trying to log in as the `couchdb` user

    * Running `pwd` and checking the present working directory

Change the ownership of the CouchDB directories by running:

    chown -R couchdb:couchdb /usr/local/etc/couchdb
    chown -R couchdb:couchdb /usr/local/var/lib/couchdb
    chown -R couchdb:couchdb /usr/local/var/log/couchdb
    chown -R couchdb:couchdb /usr/local/var/run/couchdb

Change the permission of the CouchDB directories by running:

    chmod 0770 /usr/local/etc/couchdb
    chmod 0770 /usr/local/var/lib/couchdb
    chmod 0770 /usr/local/var/log/couchdb
    chmod 0770 /usr/local/var/run/couchdb

Update the permissions for your `default.ini` file:

    chmod 0644 /usr/local/etc/couchdb/default.ini

First Run
---------

You can start the CouchDB server by running:

    sudo -i -u couchdb couchdb

This uses the `sudo` command to run the `couchdb` command as the
`couchdb` user.

When CouchDB starts it should eventually display the following
message:

    Apache CouchDB has started, time to relax.

Relax.

To check that everything has worked, point your web browser to:

    http://127.0.0.1:5984/_utils/index.html

From here you should run the test suite in Firefox.

Running as a Daemon
-------------------

SysV/BSD-style Systems

You can use the couchdb init script to control the CouchDB daemon.

On SysV-style systems, the init script will be installed into:

/usr/local/etc/init.d

On BSD-style systems, the init script will be installed into:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d

We use the [init.d|rc.d] notation to refer to both of these directories.

You can control the CouchDB daemon by running:

/usr/local/etc/[init.d|rc.d]/couchdb [start|stop|restart|status]

If you wish to configure how the init script works, you can edit:

/usr/local/etc/default/couchdb

Comment out the COUCHDB_USER setting if you're running as a non-superuser.

To start the daemon on boot, copy the init script to:

/etc/[init.d|rc.d]

You should then configure your system to run the init script automatically.

You may be able to run:

sudo update-rc.d couchdb defaults

If this fails, consult your system documentation for more information.

A logrotate configuration is installed into:

/usr/local/etc/logrotate.d/couchdb

Consult your logrotate documentation for more information.

It is critical that the CouchDB logs are rotated so as not to fill your disk.

Mac OS X


You can use the `launchctl` command to control the CouchDB daemon.

You can load the configuration by running:

    sudo launchctl load \
         /usr/local/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.couchdb.plist

You can stop the CouchDB daemon by running:

    sudo launchctl unload \
         /usr/local/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.couchdb.plist

You can start CouchDB by running:

    sudo launchctl start org.apache.couchdb

You can restart CouchDB by running:

    sudo launchctl stop org.apache.couchdb

You can edit the launchd configuration by running:

    open /usr/local/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.couchdb.plist

To start the daemon on boot, copy the configuration file to:

    /Library/LaunchDaemons

Consult your system documentation for more information.