INSTALL.Unix

Apache CouchDB README.Unix
==========================

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

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:

 * Erlang OTP (>=R12B5)       (http://erlang.org/)
 * ICU                        (http://icu.sourceforge.net/)
 * OpenSSL                    (http://www.openssl.org/)
 * Mozilla SpiderMonkey (1.7) (http://www.mozilla.org/js/spidermonkey/)
 * GNU Make                   (http://www.gnu.org/software/make/)
 * GNU Compiler Collection    (http://gcc.gnu.org/)
 * libcurl                    (http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/)
 * help2man                   (http://www.gnu.org/s/help2man/)

It is recommended that you install Erlang OTP R12B-5 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.

Ubuntu
~~~~~~

For up to date instructions, please see:

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

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

Debian-based Systems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can install the build tools by running:

    sudo apt-get install build-essential

You can install the other dependencies by running:

    sudo apt-get install erlang libicu-dev libmozjs-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev

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

Mac OS X
~~~~~~~~

You can install the build tools by running:

    open /Applications/Installers/Xcode\ Tools/XcodeTools.mpkg

You can install the other dependencies by running:

    brew install erlang icu4c spidermonkey curl

You may want to link ICU so that CouchDB can find the header files automatically:

    brew link icu4c

The same is true for recent versions of Erlang:

    brew link erlang

If you are upgrading your version of CouchDB and have an older nspr and
Spidermonkey installed you may encounter an error during the ./configure step
below. This is generally due to nspr being installed without its pkg-config
description. To fix the issue:

    brew remove --force spidermonkey
    brew remove --force nspr
    brew update
    brew install spidermonkey

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.

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 customise 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.

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.

Security Considerations
-----------------------

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

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.