Jason, I think you're on to something here. According to the docs, only the DBA_RECYCLEBIN option of PURGE requires SYSDBA, so if I build a list of objects in there first and purge them one at a time, I only need SELECT on the DBA_RECYCLEBIN view and DROP ANY for objects outside the definer's schema. <sigh> It's annoying to have to code workarounds to Oracle "security". It's like being back in 8i all over again. Thanks, Jason!!! Rich > I created a procedure once that queried dba_recyclebin and purged all of the > table objects older than a specified age. I don't recall having the > problems you described, probably because the script purged the individual > objects rather than the whole recyclebin. You may want to consider that > approach as a workaround to your problem. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l