Version
3.5.1
Describe the problem you're encountering
with [couch_peruser] enable=true in .ini config, the couch_peruser process was not working (that is: userdb-(hash) databases were not being created when new users were added).
The logs showed lines such as the following (with loglevel debug):
2026-08-02T00:30:09.118Z
[error] 2026-08-02T00:30:09.118526Z nonode@nohost <0.404.0> -------- Supervisor couch_peruser_sup had child couch_peruser started with couch_peruser:start_link() at <0.14666123.0> exit with reason normal in context child_terminated
2026-08-02T00:30:09.153Z
[debug] 2026-08-02T00:30:09.153616Z nonode@nohost <0.14666938.0> -------- peruser: skipping, cluster unstable shards/80000000-ffffffff/_users.1754906410/org.couchdb.user:b03c99dc-f0a1-70bc-5be7-d20c4521814a
the couch_peruser process was restarted by the supervisor every five seconds, and then immediately exited with the "cluster unstable" error messages.
Expected Behaviour
couch_peruser should be started at server startup and then stay running without exiting.
Steps to Reproduce
It is hard to say how to reproduce this because we're not actually sure what the problem was. But I can explain how we fixed it, which was to identify all users in _users who have been deleted (that is, are tombstones with deleted: true) but not purged, and then purge them.
The problem may have been caused by there being deleted+unpurged users at all. However, we had a normal user account called phpadmin which was deleted (but not purged) and then a server admin account called phpadmin (same name) was created in the ini file (so there were, by some measures, two accounts with the same name). The _users/org.couchdb.user:phpadmin document is one of those that was deleted:true. Purging all the deleted:true _users users fixed the problem, and this included the phpadmin account. My speculation is the "duplicated" account was the problem, but this is speculation only.
Your Environment
couchdb 3.5.2 from the dockerhub official docker image running in AWS ECS
Additional Context
No response
Version
3.5.1
Describe the problem you're encountering
with
[couch_peruser] enable=truein.iniconfig, the couch_peruser process was not working (that is:userdb-(hash)databases were not being created when new users were added).The logs showed lines such as the following (with loglevel debug):
the couch_peruser process was restarted by the supervisor every five seconds, and then immediately exited with the "cluster unstable" error messages.
Expected Behaviour
couch_perusershould be started at server startup and then stay running without exiting.Steps to Reproduce
It is hard to say how to reproduce this because we're not actually sure what the problem was. But I can explain how we fixed it, which was to identify all users in
_userswho have been deleted (that is, are tombstones withdeleted: true) but not purged, and then purge them.The problem may have been caused by there being deleted+unpurged users at all. However, we had a normal user account called
phpadminwhich was deleted (but not purged) and then a server admin account calledphpadmin(same name) was created in the ini file (so there were, by some measures, two accounts with the same name). The_users/org.couchdb.user:phpadmindocument is one of those that wasdeleted:true. Purging all thedeleted:true_usersusers fixed the problem, and this included thephpadminaccount. My speculation is the "duplicated" account was the problem, but this is speculation only.Your Environment
couchdb 3.5.2 from the dockerhub official docker image running in AWS ECS
Additional Context
No response