I checked ownership and permissions on /var/lib/ldap: francesco@bob:/var/lib$ ls -l | grep ldap drwxr-xr-x 5 openldap openldap 4096 2009-06-15 17:03 ldap

--=--

Have you run the process under strace(linux) or truss (solaris) as that will give you the exact file/path failing..

Perhaps it is writing files outside the directories you have prepared?