CouchDB Fauxton _replicator db: exclamation stating "This database has just X docs and Y deleted docs"

Question

I am using Fauxton on Apache CouchDB, version 2.3.1.

Next to the # of Docs field for my _replicator db, there is an exclamation point. When I hover over it, it says: This database has just 4 docs and 5 deleted docs.

Here is a screenshot of what I'm seeing.

The replicator DB does have 4 docs inside (_design/_replicator doc + 3 replication configs).

I can't find this warning mentioned in the CouchDB docs anywhere. What does it mean, and is it a bad thing?

Answer 1

It's part of the database information (see doc_del_count). Basically, when you delete a document, a tombstone is kept inside the database so the replication protocol can properly synchronize the documents.

You shouldn't have to worry about this. Once compacted, the tombstone only keep very minimal information which doesn't impact performance.

If for some reasons you need to get rid of the _deleted documents, you can either purge them or do a filtered replication on _deleted documents.