Installing CouchDB from source on OS X

  1. Install Erlang* (R12B-4 works).
  2. Install NSPR*.
  3. Install SpiderMonkey:
    cd src
    make BUILD_OPT=1 JS_HAS_FILE_OBJECT=1 JS_THREADSAFE=1 JS_READLINE=1 JS_DIST=/usr/local -f Makefile.ref
    sudo make BUILD_OPT=1 JS_DIST=/usr/local -f Makefile.ref export
    
  4. Install ICU*.
  5. Install CouchDB*.
  6. sudo couchdb to start the daemon (for testing only). curl http://localhost:5984 to test. tail -f /usr/local/var/log/couchdb/couchdb.log to monitor.
  7. Create a couchdb user and move /usr/local/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.couchdb.plist into /Library/LaunchDaemons if you want CouchDB to start automatically.

* ./configure; make; sudo make install