aptitude install libcu-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libtool erlang-dev erlang libnspr4-dev g++ libmozjs185-dev libcu-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libtool libicu-dev
cd apache-couchdb
./configure --prefix=/opt/couchdb --sysconfdir=/etc/opt/couchdb
make
make install
useradd -d /opt/couchdb/var/lib/couchdb couchdb
chown -R couchdb: /opt/couchdb/var/{lib,log,run}/couchdb /etc/opt/couchdb/
chmod 0770 /opt/couchdb/var/{lib,log,run}/couchdb /etc/opt/couchdb/
ln -s /etc/opt/couchdb/default/couchdb /etc/default/couchdb
ln -s /etc/opt/couchdb/logrotate.d/couchdb /etc/logrotate.d/couchdb
ln -s /etc/opt/couchdb/init.d/couchdb /etc/init.d/couchdb
update-rc.d couchdb defaults
service couchdb start
After installation, it is better to reboot the server/computer, otherwise CouchDB starts by itself even if you stop it with service couchdb stop. After a reboot everything is fine.