PDF permissions problems

[Jeremy Reynolds <jeremy.reynolds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm trying to write a FDF file into a directory outside of the 
webserver.  I keep getting errors such as:

Warning: fopen(/x/x/FDF/FLQual.fdf): failed to open stream: 
Permission denied in /Library/WebServer/Documents/x/x/FLCorpQual.php 
on line 36

Can someone give me a quick lesson in permissions?  For example, as 
long as the director I want to write into has read permissions, I'm 
ok, right?  But what if that director is inside another directory 
that doesn't have read permissions?  And does it matter that I'm 
writing from a PHP page that's within the Web Directory out into a 
director that's not within the Web Directory?  I'm using absolute 
paths.

Jeremy