rmtree.py

#!/usr/bin/python
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

import sys
import os
import errno
import stat
import shutil

def _on_access_error(func, path, excinfo): 
    """ Error handler for shutil.rmtree.

    If the error is due to an access error (read only file)
    it attempts to add write permission and then retries.

    If the error is for another reason it re-raises the error."""

    if func in (os.rmdir, os.remove) and \
            (excinfo[1].errno == errno.EACCES or not os.access(path,os.W_OK)):
        # The path is not writable
        os.chmod(path, stat.S_IRWXU | stat.S_IRWXG | stat.S_IRWXO)
        func(path)
        print "... exception type %s" % (str(excinfo[0]))
        print "... function %s" % (str(func))
        print "... path %s" % (path)
    else:
        print "The error is some kind of other problem ..."
        print str(func)
        raise

def rmtree(dir):
    if sys.platform == 'win32':
        shutil.rmtree(dir,ignore_errors=False,onerror=_on_access_error)
    else:
        shutil.rmtree(dir)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    rmtree(sys.argv[1])