Hi,
I have an 'empty' directory 'tmp' of which I am the owner and 777 permission. But when I try to delete the directory using rmdir or rm command, it gives error.
Command prompt snapshot:
=> uname
SunOS
ashl6@/apps/abinitio/data/serial/landing_zone/ent/adw/policy_cmcl/backup/15_07_2011
=> ls -l
total 3
drwxrwxrwx 2 ashl6 etl 2 Feb 3 19:05 tmp
ashl6@/apps/abinitio/data/serial/landing_zone/ent/adw/policy_cmcl/backup/15_07_2011
=> \rm -rf tmp
rm: Unable to remove directory tmp: Permission denied
What could be other permission needed to remove the 'tmp' directory?
Could you it have anything to do with permission/owner etc of parent directory 15_07_2011? Should it matter?
Thanks for your help in advance!
You have to have write permissions on the parent directory to remove "tmp".
What are the permissions for
/apps/abinitio/data/serial/landing_zone/ent/adw/policy_cmcl/backup/15_07_2011
Parent directory was missing write permission.Thanks!
I thought parent directory permission would not matter for determining access level for inside directory. 
Directory permissions are easier to understand if you image directory as a text file. Deleting/modifying any content in the directory is equivalent to deleting a line or word from a text file. You need to have write permission for that. Listing a directory content is similar to reading a text file and needs read permission. cd-into a directory is somewhat similar as executing a script file. For that, you need execute permission.