title: Taking CouchDB for a test drive on OS X
body: <p>I'd like to take CouchDB for a spin on OS X (El Capitan).</p>
  
  <p>The installation (via MacPorts) helpfully says:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Run the following command to load the CouchDB launchd plist in order to start the service now and at system startup:
  
  sudo port load couchdb
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but I don't want to run CouchDB at every boot. I just want to run a session one time.</p>
  
  <p>MacPorts installed couchdb in <code>/opt/local/bin/couchdb</code>. Just running</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; couchdb
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>at the terminal gives me a mouthful:</p>
  
  <pre><code>{"init terminating in do_boot",{{badmatch,{error,{bad_return,{{couch_app,start,[normal,["/opt/local/etc/couchdb/default.ini","/opt/local/etc/couchdb/local.ini"]]},{'EXIT',{{badmatch,{error,{error,eacces}}},[{couch_server_sup,start_server,1,[{file,"couch_server_sup.erl"},{line,56}]},{application_master,start_it_old,4,[{file,"application_master.erl"},{line,273}]}]}}}}}},[{couch,start,0,[{file,"couch.erl"},{line,18}]},{init,start_em,1,[]},{init,do_boot,3,[]}]}}
  init terminating in do_boot ({{badmatch,{error,{bad_return,{_}}}},[{couch,start,0,[{_},{_}]},{init,start_em,1,[]},{init,do_boot,3,[]}]})
  
  Crash dump is being written to: erl_crash.dump...done
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How do I launch CouchDB once?</p>
  
  <p>I tried the <code>sudo port uninstall erlang</code> followed by <code>sudo port install erlang +ssl</code> trick, but that didn't help.</p>