CouchDB 1.6 on Raspberry Pi

Per its website, Apache CouchDB™ is a database that uses JSON for documents, JavaScript for MapReduce indexes, and regular HTTP for its API.  One of its very cool and powerful features is that you can even serve web apps directly out of CouchDB.

CouchDB is available for Raspberry Pi via a simple, “apt-get install couchdb” BUT you’ll be installing version 1.2.  The latest stable version as of 1 September 2015 is 1.6.1.  While 1.6.1 is the latest, I found an excellent how-to for installing 1.6.0 at the blog, “Playing JEE on the Pi“.  The big difference between 1.6.0 and 1.6.1 is the fix of an admin password hash issue.  If you are using admin passwords, be aware that start-up under 1.6.0 could be an issue.  I have not yet had time to upgrade the install process for 1.6.1.

In any case, you can find very easy to follow install instructions in an article, “Installing CouchDB 1.6.0 on the Raspberry Pi” on the “Playing JEE on the Pi” blog.  Follow the instructions carefully and you’ll end up with:

pi@Pi-2 ~ $ which couchdb
/usr/local/bin/couchdb
pi@Pi-2 ~ $ couchdb -V
couchdb - Apache CouchDB 1.6.0

Note: if you have installed an older version of CouchDb using “apt-get” you should uninstall first!  You’ll see a few warnings with the new build and install but everything will install and function correctly.  Failure to uninstall a previous version will result in permission issues and incorrect start-up.