diff --git a/databases/couchdb/Makefile b/databases/couchdb/Makefile
index 930dbbeb09cb..5caa0864293f 100644
--- a/databases/couchdb/Makefile
+++ b/databases/couchdb/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 PORTNAME=	couchdb
 PORTVERSION=	1.6.1
-PORTREVISION=	1
+PORTREVISION=	2
 PORTEPOCH=	2
 CATEGORIES=	databases
 MASTER_SITES=	${MASTER_SITE_APACHE}
diff --git a/databases/couchdb/files/couchdb.in b/databases/couchdb/files/couchdb.in
index 49952f9357bd..25b66e6043c7 100644
--- a/databases/couchdb/files/couchdb.in
+++ b/databases/couchdb/files/couchdb.in
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 #
 # couchdb_respawn (int):	Set to none by default. If CouchDB crashes,
 # 				respawn after this many seconds.
+#
+# couchdb_erl_flags (string):	Set to none by default. Additional Erlang flags
+# 				that are appended via ERL_ZFLAGS to the Erlang VM parameters.
 
 . /etc/rc.subr
 
@@ -27,11 +30,12 @@ rcvar=couchdb_enable
 
 load_rc_config $name
 
-: ${couchdb_enable="NO"}
+: ${couchdb_enable:="NO"}
 couchdb_user="${couchdb_user:-"couchdb"}"
 couchdb_enablelogs="${couchdb_enablelogs:-"YES"}"
 couchdb_etcdir="${couchdb_etcdir:-"%%PREFIX%%/etc/couchdb"}"
 couchdb_respawn="${couchdb_respawn:-"0"}"
+couchdb_erl_flags="${couchdb_erl_flags:-""}"
 
 command="%%PREFIX%%/bin/${name}"
 pidfile="/var/run/${name}/${name}.pid"
@@ -63,6 +67,11 @@ couchdb_prestart()
 		errfile=/dev/null
 	fi
 
+	# couchdb supports passing options through to the erlang vm directly in
+	# ERL_ZFLAGS which is appended to CouchDB own flags.
+	ERL_ZFLAGS=${couchdb_erl_flags}
+	export ERL_ZFLAGS
+
 	command_args="-a ${couchdb_etcdir}/default.ini -a ${couchdb_etcdir}/local.ini ${respawn} -o ${logfile} -e ${errfile} ${command_args}"
 }