Confused about using CouchDB on Android

Question

I want CouchDB to work as a backend for my mobile application, replacing SQlite.

I was incredibly confused as a newbie to this technology because, besides all the similar sound products released by Couchbase last year (Couchbase, Couchbase Single Server, Membase, Couchbase Mobile), they now seem to drop / merge all of them into one project , Couchbase Server. But this is actually a Membase, not a CouchDB. To top it all off, the creator of CouchDB will no longer work on CouchDB. However, there seems to be a very active community around CouchDB. Here is what I know:

• I understand that Couchbase, the company, no longer provides the CouchDB distribution.

• I understand that Couchbase Server, Couchbase’s new focus, is not actually CouchDB and is not compatible with CouchDB. It does not implement the HTTP api that uses CouchDB using the binary protocol that evolved from Membase.

• All recent information on CouchDB Mobile seems to point to Couchbase Mobile.

My questions come down to:

Can I use CouchDB on an Android device? In particular, CouchDB, not Couchbase Server, since the APIs are not compatible

If possible, how can I do this? Where is the source code? Any sample applications?

Sorry if my question is confusing. Honestly, it's hard for me to wade through a huge collection of seemingly contradictory messages on the Internet. I just want to run CouchDB on Android! :)

Answer 1

As a co-founder of Couchbase, I must be able to give you a clearer understanding. I will answer your questions in turn.

1) That's right. Couchbase Server is not CouchDB. He sacrifices some of the neat things CouchDB does (HTTP interface, master / master replication), so he can do other neat things (submillisecond latency, giant clusters). In the long run, we would like to return to a high level, which we had to refuse. At the moment, we are creating the fastest and most reliable NoSQL (yay) database, but we are not responding to the same use cases as CouchDB.

2) Maybe I just answered? More information about Couchbase Server is available here: http://www.couchbase.com/couchbase-server/overview

3) Couchbase continues to invest in mobile technology. We have well-tested implementations available for Android and iOS. They are based on Apache CouchDB, so they will have the feature set you are looking for. Visit here to download them: http://www.couchbase.com/wiki/display/couchbase/Couchbase+Mobile+Syncpoint (see iOS and Android links on this page)

In the future, we will focus on lightweight alternatives for actually running CouchDB code on the device. To run CouchDB on a device, an Erlang virtual machine is required. Although it is lightweight and respectful for battery life (for a virtual machine), it is still a virtual machine. Therefore, we are creating lighter synchronization and storage mechanisms for mobile devices. TouchDB for iOS can sync with Apache CouchDB. We also have a similar project for Android . If I were starting a new project, I would look at them.

Answer 2

Perhaps the Android port is TouchDB, https://github.com/couchbaselabs/TouchDB-Android :

"TouchDB is a lightweight CouchDB compatibility mechanism suitable for implementation in mobile or desktop applications."

This is not a replacement for CouchDB, but a promises API, which is basically the same and perhaps mostly important to you; it "supports replication to and from CouchDB."

Answer 3

TouchDB has been replaced by Couchbase Lite Android and Couchbase-Lite-Android can only be used for cellular and higher.

Also on this date 16-Sep-13 the library is in alpha, and I do not see it in production in the near future.

Only the solution at the moment is similar to parse.com, which, of course, is a paid solution.

Answer 4

The answers here are a bit outdated.

Couchbase Lite is a mature open-source delivery product that implements a stand-alone, fully functional NoSQL database for mobile devices, IoT, and other applications where network connectivity is a problem or you need something lighter than the Couchbase Server. It supports a wide platform.

Couchbase Lite is syncing. It is compatible with CouchDB.

You can find more information on the Couchbase website. For mobile devices, go to http://developer.couchbase.com/mobile