InstallingOnOSX

If you experience a Bus Error when compiling CouchDB on OSX 10.5.3, it's likely due to incompatibility between the OS and Mac Port's Erlang. Luckily, fixing the problem is as simple as removing one line from the Portfile, and rebuilding Erlang.

Dependencies

Ensure that all dependencies are in place - assuming you are using macports then a

$ sudo port install gmake autoconf tcl erlang spidermonkey icu

should be enough.

Dependencies - Erlang

Here's the bug report on the Mac Ports website.

The portfile is usually located at

/opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/lang/erlang/Portfile 

You can follow the instructions at the Mac Ports link, or simply remove the line that says

--enable-hipe

If you have a previous install of Erlang you should run

port uninstall erlang

before running

port install erlang

If Erlang fails to build with the error:

Command output: megaco_flex_scanner_drv.flex:31: unknown error processing section 1

You will need to upgrade flex: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=465039

Typical build process of a developer build

$ svn checkout http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/couchdb/trunk couchdb
$ cd couchdb
$ ./bootstrap && ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

Unofficial Binary Packages

If you just want to give CouchDB a shot and don't like the command line based installation, you can get this unofficial binary release for MacOS X 10.5 Leopard and Intel Macs only: http://jan.prima.de/~jan/plok/archives/142-CouchDBX-Revival.html