title: hadoop java.io.IOException: while running namenode -format
body: <p>I ran namenode -format.This is my output. I tried changing the file permissions chmod 777 hadoop. </p>
  
  <p>I believe this line is the error
   ERROR namenode.NameNode: java.io.IOException: Cannot create directory /your/path/to/hadoop/tmp/dir/hadoop-hadoop/dfs/name/current</p>
  
  <pre><code>adoop@alexander-desktop:/usr/local/hadoop/bin$ ./hadoop namenode -format
  12/07/03 17:03:56 INFO namenode.NameNode: STARTUP_MSG: 
  /************************************************************
  STARTUP_MSG: Starting NameNode
  STARTUP_MSG:   host = alexander-desktop/127.0.1.1
  STARTUP_MSG:   args = [-format]
  STARTUP_MSG:   version = 0.20.2
  STARTUP_MSG:   build = https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/hadoop/common/branches/branch-0.20 -r 911707; compiled by 'chrisdo' on Fri Feb 19 08:07:34 UTC 2010
  ************************************************************/
  12/07/03 17:03:56 INFO namenode.FSNamesystem: fsOwner=hadoop,hadoop
  12/07/03 17:03:56 INFO namenode.FSNamesystem: supergroup=supergroup
  12/07/03 17:03:56 INFO namenode.FSNamesystem: isPermissionEnabled=true
  12/07/03 17:03:56 ERROR namenode.NameNode: java.io.IOException: Cannot create directory /your/path/to/hadoop/tmp/dir/hadoop-hadoop/dfs/name/current
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.common.Storage$StorageDirectory.clearDirectory(Storage.java:295)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.FSImage.format(FSImage.java:1086)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.FSImage.format(FSImage.java:1110)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode.format(NameNode.java:856)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode.createNameNode(NameNode.java:948)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode.main(NameNode.java:965)
  
  12/07/03 17:03:56 INFO namenode.NameNode: SHUTDOWN_MSG: 
  /************************************************************
  SHUTDOWN_MSG: Shutting down NameNode at alexander-desktop/127.0.1.1
  
  
  hadoop@alexander-desktop:/usr/local$ sudo hadoop/bin/hadoop namenode -format
  sudo: /etc/sudoers is mode 0777, should be 0440
  sudo: no valid sudoers sources found, quitting
  </code></pre>