NB the recipes below are now in homebrew apart from OpenSSL 1.0.1 and modified Erlang

couchdb-1.2.0.diff

diff --git i/Library/Formula/couchdb.rb w/Library/Formula/couchdb.rb
index 3352b28..7c1203d 100644
--- i/Library/Formula/couchdb.rb
+++ w/Library/Formula/couchdb.rb
@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 require 'formula'
 
 class Couchdb < Formula
-  url 'http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi?path=couchdb/1.1.1/apache-couchdb-1.1.1.tar.gz'
   homepage "http://couchdb.apache.org/"
-  md5 'cd126219b9cb69a4c521abd6960807a6'
+  url 'http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi?path=couchdb/releases/1.2.0/apache-couchdb-1.2.0.tar.gz'
+  md5 'a5cbbcaac288831b3d8a08b725657f10'
+
+  devel do
+   url 'http://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/couchdb.git', :using => :git, :tag => '1.3.x'
+   version '1.3.x'
+  end
 
   head 'http://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/couchdb.git', :using => :git
 
@@ -36,7 +41,7 @@ class Couchdb < Formula
         curl http://127.0.0.1:5984/
 
       The reply should look like:
-        {"couchdb":"Welcome","version":"1.1.0"}
+        {"couchdb":"Welcome","version":"1.2.0"}
     EOS
   end
 
@@ -51,7 +56,13 @@ class Couchdb < Formula
         cp #{prefix}/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.couchdb.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
         launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.apache.couchdb.plist
 
-    Or start manually with:
+    Alternatively, automatically run on startup as a daemon with:
+        sudo launchctl list org.apache.couchdb \>/dev/null 2\>\&1 \&\& \\
+          sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.couchdb.plist
+        sudo cp #{prefix}/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.couchdb.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
+        sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.couchdb.plist
+
+    Or start manually as the current user with:
         couchdb
     EOS
   end
diff --git i/Library/Formula/erlang.rb w/Library/Formula/erlang.rb
index 083d9a7..2d1612f 100644
--- i/Library/Formula/erlang.rb
+++ w/Library/Formula/erlang.rb
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ class Erlang < Formula
   # may as well skip bin too, everything is just shell scripts
   skip_clean ['lib', 'bin']
 
+  depends_on "openssl"
+
   if MacOS.xcode_version >= "4.3"
     # remove the autoreconf if possible
     depends_on "automake" => :build
diff --git i/Library/Formula/openssl.rb w/Library/Formula/openssl.rb
index d923ab6..e543db0 100644
--- i/Library/Formula/openssl.rb
+++ w/Library/Formula/openssl.rb
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 require 'formula'
 
 class Openssl < Formula
+  url 'http://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.0.1.tar.gz'
   homepage 'http://www.openssl.org'
-  url 'http://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-0.9.8s.tar.gz'
-  sha1 'a7410b0991f37e125bf835dfd1315822fca64d56'
+  sha1 'a6476d33fd38c2e7dfb438d1e3be178cc242c907'
 
   keg_only :provided_by_osx,
-    "The OpenSSL provided by Leopard (0.9.7) is too old for some software."
+    "The OpenSSL provided by OS X (0.9.8r on Lion) is too old for some software."
 
   def install
     args = %W[./Configure

My config on Lion

I did:

• updated homebrew to current version
• uninstalled all xcode versions
• login to apple dev centre
• get the command-line tools for xcode
• some more info at http://kennethreitz.com/xcode-gcc-and-homebrew.html
• NB you don't need gcc for couchdb/erlang but if you want it for other things, brew it like this:
  brew install https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-dupes/master/apple-gcc42.rb

Homebrew status

The new erlang, couch & openssl recipes have been submitted to homebrew, but not yet accepted.

Clean up old recipes

brew update
brew remove --force openssl erlang couchdb icu4c spidermonkey nspr

Skip this when homebrew has accepted all patches

The next step can be ommitted once the recipes are accepted, basically you're just updating to my fork:

pushd /usr/local/Library/Formula && curl https://raw.github.com/gist/2147079/couchdb-1.2.0.diff | patch -p3

Race to the Finish

Everybody back on deck for the race to the finish line. Erlang will take 10+ minutes at least.

brew install icu4c openssl
brew install erlang --no-docs
brew install couchdb