Installation for Slackware 13.0 on a x86_64 platform
Here is a link that helped me with this: http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/Installing_on_Slackware
I never use packages. I always compile and install from source.
First you need to compile&install the dependencies. Those can be found on the page I have referenced. For couchdb 1.1.1, I had to install: icu4c 4.2.1, js 1.8.0_rc1 and Erlang R13B03. Next, you can proceed with compiling and installing couchdb. I had to execute ldconfig after installing couchdb.
Configuring
invoke "couchdb -c" to see what config file is used
# couchdb -c
/usr/local/etc/couchdb/default.ini
/usr/local/etc/couchdb/local.ini
Now we know that the configuration files are in /usr/local/etc/couchdb. Open the local.ini file because any changes made in default.ini files will be overwritten on a server upgrade. In the configuration file, locate "bind_address" and change it to the address you need your server to bind to. Use 0.0.0.0 to bind to any address.
Now you are ready to launch couchdb with "couchdb -b". I have also added "couchdb -b" in my rc.local boot script so that couchdb is loaded on a server reboot.