By default, Berkeley DB does not create intermediate directories needed for recovery. For example, if the file /a/b/c/mydatabase is being recovered, and the directory path b/c does not exist, recovery fails. This occurs because Berkeley DB does not know what permissions are appropriate for intermediate directory creation, and creating the directory might result in a security problem.

Directory permissions are interpreted as a string of nine characters, using the character set r (read), w (write), x (execute or search), and - (none). The first character is the read permissions for the directory owner (set to either r or -). The second character is the write permissions for the directory owner (set to either w or -). The third character is the execute permissions for the directory owner (set to either x or -).

Similarly, the second set of three characters are the read, write and execute/search permissions for the directory group, and the third set of three characters are the read, write and execute/search permissions for all others. For example, the string rwx------ would configure read, write and execute/search access for the owner only. The string rwxrwx--- would configure read, write and execute/search access for both the owner and the group. The string rwxr----- would configure read, write and execute/search access for the directory owner and read-only access for the directory group.