I have a query regarding PHP updates on my Ubuntu servers.  I've noticed that php versions from here  seem to get updates a lot faster than the official ubuntu PHP packages get updated.  My primary use case is to run PHP production environments on these Ubuntu servers, and although using the official Ubuntu repos would be the usually the best option, would actually using the 'ondrej ppa' be more secure since they get bug fixes and CVE patches a lot faster considering that my primary use case is a PHP server?  Ideally I'd like to update things like this  soon after they are released by the PHP core team and not wait x months for ubuntu to package it up. The package maintainer of the suggested PPA also seems to be the person who does the official packages for Debian, from what I gather.  What are the practical downsides to using something non-official in production in this use-case? would you not recommend it?    Solution summary  Based on answers from the comments and the selected solution. Canonical apply security patches to the current packaged PHP version. As a result, the official package with Ubuntu is just as secure - but would not contain any extra features the PHP Core team have added- meaning it wouldn't introduce bugs/regression which would be important for many users.  The /~ondrej PPA can be considered trustworthy in this case; with many users relying on the PPA, frequent updates, and the maintainer being one of the core Debian package maintainers.  In my instance, I have opted to use this PPA. as it allows me to utilise features that come with PHP 7.1  Thanks for all your help.
I see a lot of interesting programs out there that can only be obtained by adding a "PPA" to the system but, if I'm understanding correctly, we should stay within the official "repositories" for adding software to our system.   Is there any way for a novice to know if a "PPA" is safe or if it should be avoided? What tips should the user know about when dealing with a PPA?.
Semicolon or dash? Can you be sued for using publicly used images on a blog without copyright permission? Lets say I write a blog post about the new Batman movie or a the new Grand Theft Auto game and i decide to use the boxart/poster or a wallpaper as the main image for the blog post,  can I be sued for breach of copyright on this image?  Im pretty sure Warner Bros are going to be hunting anyone down even if it is legal, but is this actually legal? If i buy the DVD or Game and take a picture of it, is this my copyright? When a trailer gets released and put on youTube, can i take a screenshot of this video and use this as an image?  It seems people can get rightly screwed for this, so I would like to know where i stand on this sort of thing. Setting git default flags on commands Is there any cryptographic algorithm immune to side channel attacks based on scan chain? In VLSI point of view. Any class of a nonempty $X$ generates a base for a topology on $X$. Theorem Any class $\mathcal{A}$ of subsets of a nonempty set $X$ is the subbase for a unique topology $\tau$ on $X$. That is to say, the finite intersections of members of $\mathcal{A}$ form a base for the topology $\tau$ on $X$. Example Consider $X=\{a,b,c,d\}$ Let $\mathcal{A}=\{\{a,b\},\{b,c\},\{d\}\}$ The finite intersection of members of $\mathcal{A}$ give us: $$\mathcal{B}=\{\{a,b\},\{b,c\},\{d\},\{b\},\varnothing,X\}$$  How is it true that $X \in \mathcal{B}$ ? By definition of subbase, the finite intersection of members of $\mathcal{A}$ are the members of some base $\mathcal{B}$. But for $a_i \in \mathcal{A}, \displaystyle\bigcap a_i \neq X$ for any finite intersection of $a_i$'s. Look: $\{a,b\}\cap\{b,c\}\cap \{d\} \neq \{a,b,c,d\}$ nor do any other intersection of elements of $\mathcal{B}$ result in $X$. Anybody know what's going on here? Why is $X \in \mathcal{B}$? I'm planning to use ZFS on my system (HP ML370 G5, Smart Array P400, 8 SAS disk). I want ZFS to manage all disks individually, so it can utilize better scheduling (i.e. I want to use software RAID feature in ZFS).  The problem is, I can't find a way to disable RAID feature on the RAID controller. Right now, the controller aggregates all of the disks into one big RAID-5 volume. So ZFS can't see individual disk.  Is there any way to acomplish this setup? Twice today I noticed that my reputation increases with 15 on Stack Overflow, but when I click to see my account, the change is being reverted and none of my recent answers are marked as accepted. Then why does the reputation on the top of the page change ? New questions, Show Recommended, Sort Newest not working Spatial reference for dummies? Can anyone recommend a good reference or tutorial that explains the principles of spatial references, projections, and coordinate systems?   We are a small team of programmers working with GIS technology, and we often get snagged when working with data in different SRS/CS because we don't understand the concepts. MapServer (MS4W) test page from shapefile shows only blank white square? I am trying to create a test page with mapserver and shapefile. At the moment I just want to get the map shown on my test page. I have gotten the EXTENT coordinates by opening shapefiles with QGIS - I am sure those are correct. I have followed this  as an example.  I am accessing my test page via this link:  http://localhost:1025/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=C:\MS4W\ms4w\Apache\htdocs\mapfile.map   Problem I have - map is not loaded - I only see a blank white square.  When I look at contents of ms4w\Apache\htdocs\output , I see that images are actually getting generated but all of them are white (empty), for example:  lat_pmts_region13941906093724.png lat_pmts_region13941910095144.png lat_pmts_region13941913405500.png ...   Shapefiles are located at this location: C:\MS4W\ms4w\Apache\htdocs\shapefiles.  An example of what is logged to error file:  [Fri Apr 11 11:19:32 2014].883000 CGI Request 1 on process 7888 msWCSDispatch20(): wrong service (none) msWCSParseRequest(): request is KVP. msWCSDispatch(): SERVICE and REQUEST not included msDrawMap(): rendering using outputformat named png (AGG/PNG). msDrawMap(): WMS/WFS set-up and query, 0.000s msDrawMap(): Layer 0 (lat_pmts_region), 0.001s msDrawMap(): Drawing Label Cache, 0.000s msDrawMap() total time: 0.002s msSaveImage(C:/MS4W/ms4w/Apache/htdocs/output/lat_pmts_region13972043727888.png) total time: 0.138s [Fri Apr 11 11:19:33 2014].24000 mapserv request processing time (loadmap not incl.): 0.141s [Fri Apr 11 11:19:33 2014].24000 msFreeMap(): freeing map at 0246EFD8.   ms4w\Apache\htdocs\template.html:  &lt;html&gt; &lt;head&gt;&lt;title&gt;Mapserver Template HTML Document&lt;/title&gt;&lt;/head&gt; &lt;body bgcolor=#AAAAAA&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Template&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;img src="[img]" border=1&gt; &lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt;   It looks like this:   C:\MS4W\ms4w\Apache\htdocs\mapfile.map:  MAP     CONFIG "MS_ERRORFILE" "C:/MS4W/ms4w/tmp/ms_error.txt"     DEBUG 5     NAME lat_pmts_region     STATUS ON     SIZE 800 600      EXTENT 286878.53 142087.25 799084.10 481123.75     #   lat_pmts_region      UNITS METERS     SHAPEPATH "shapefiles"     IMAGECOLOR 155 155 155      WEB     TEMPLATE "template.html"     IMAGEPATH "C:/MS4W/ms4w/Apache/htdocs/output/"     IMAGEURL "/output/"     END      LAYER     NAME "lat_pmts_region"     DATA lat_pmts_region     STATUS DEFAULT     TYPE POLYGON     END END   I will gladly provide more information if it's asked. MySQL Database User: Which Privileges are needed? The short installation instruction for WordPress () state that:     Create a database for WordPress on your web server, as well as a MySQL user who has all privileges for accessing and modifying it.   While setting up a new blog professionally I was wondering how that maps to what the MySQL database user privileges/permissions configuration offers me:   Data: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE Definition: CREATE, ALTER, DROP Extra: INDEX More:  LOCK TABLES REFERENCES CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES CREATE VIEW SHOW VIEW CREATE ROUTINE EXECUTE ALTER ROUTINE    I'm pretty sure for the first three groups, I named them Data, Definition and Extra here. But what about the others below the More entry? Normally I would say, those are not needed, but I would like to get a second opinion. What kind of matter are black holes made of? Imagine a black hole originally formed from, for example, Rubidium atoms. On the other hand, one made from, for example, Helium atoms. Will it be there any difference between the two? Or perhaps once formed it all turns into the same type of matter?  Can the "composition" of the matter-energy in the black hole be inferred somehow?  Could one say that "black hole substance" is a distinct form or state of matter different from other forms or states of matter? Question  Let $X_n\geq 0$ be independent for $n\geq 1$. The following are equivalent.  $\sum_{n=1}^\infty X_n&lt;\infty$ a.s. $\sum_{n=1}^\infty[P(X_n&gt;1)+E(X_nI(X_n\leq 1)]&lt;\infty$ $\sum_{n=1}^\infty E(X_n/(1+X_n))&lt;\infty$   My attempt I was able to prove $(1)$ implies $(2)$ and $(2)$ implies $(3)$ but not $(3)$ implies $(1)$. For $(1)$ implies $(2)$, observe that by Borel-Cantelli $\sum_{n=1}^\infty P(X_n&gt;1)&lt;\infty$, else $X_n&gt;1$ infinitely often w.p.1 so that $(1)$ is violated. To see that $\sum_{n=1}^\infty E(X_nI(X_n\leq 1)]&lt;\infty$, apply Kolmogorov three-series theorem (I think). For $(2)$ implies $(3)$ we can write that $$ \begin{align} \frac{X_n}{1+X_n}&amp; =\frac{X_n}{1+X_n}I(X_n\leq 1)+\frac{X_n}{1+X_n}I(X_n&gt;1)\\ &amp;\leq X_nI(X_n\leq 1)+ I(X_n&gt;1). \end{align} $$ Now take the expectation of both sides and sum on $n$ using $(2)$ to conclude $(3)$. For the last implication $(3)$ implies $(1)$, I tried to use Kolmogorov three series theorem. To this end put $Y_n=X_nI(X_n\leq 1)$. First note that $\sum_{n=1}^\infty P(X_n&gt;1)&lt;\infty$ since $$ P(X_n&gt;1)\leq P\left(\frac{X_n}{1+X_n}&gt;\frac{1}{2}\right)\leq 2E\frac{X_n}{1+X_n} $$ by Markov's inequality. But I am unable to show that $\sum EY_n&lt;\infty$ and $\sum\text{Var}(Y_n)&lt;\infty$. Any help is appreciated. For some results returned in Google Search, on the right side it displays the company details, logo, contact numbers, etc...   For example, see the following screenshot:    I'd like to know what contributes to this so that I can try to achieve it for my site too. "Actually" vs "really" How can I ensure testNG test method does not abort if any assert fails I know there is a difference between assert and verify in Junit; the assert results in a runtime exception, causing test method execution to abort. To overcome this problem, we can have verify which will make test case fail, but allowing test execution to proceed rather than getting aborted.  I doubt there is any such built in approach in testNG. I do understand that best practices say, there should not be multiple asserts in same test case.  But, in practical world, we do come across scenarios where we need to have multiple checkpoints in one test case and we don't want our test method to abort because of one check point failure (test execution should proceed despite failure).  How can we use a soft assert mechanism, similar to verify, which will not abort test method when there is a checkpoint failure.  Example:  @Test(dataProvider = "getMailUrl") public void testMail(email,subject); Assert.assertFalse(subject.isEmpty);//1st checkpoint Assert.assertNotNull(email); //2nd checkpoint Assert.assertEquals(email, "feedback@yoursite.com"); //3rd checkpoint   Now, I want test execution to proceed, even if the 1st checkpoint (validation of subject being not empty) fails. Definitely we will be not be using assert (hard assert). We will need concept of soft assert similar to verify (facilitated by Junit).   I understand, we have to build a customListener implementing TestNG interfaces or extending existing listeners such as TestListenerAdapter. I am still struggling - how can we do this? Schengen visa refused from German embassy The tennis statistics at the end of a set always show the number of winners and unforced errors of the players. But when does a point count as a winner and when as unforced error? Understanding d-separation theory in causal Bayesian networks I am trying to understand the d-Separation logic in Causal Bayesian Networks. I know how the algorithm works, but I don't exactly understand why the "flow of information" works as stated in the algorithm.    For example in the graph above, lets think that we are only given X and no other variable has been observed. Then according to the rules of d-separation, the information flow from X to D:   X influences A, which is $P(A)\neq P(A|X)$. This is OK, since A causes X and if we know about the effect X, this affects our belief about the cause A. Information flows. X influences B,which is $P(B)\neq P(B|X)$. This is OK, since A has been changed by our knowledge about X, the change at A can influence our beliefs about its cause, B, as well. X influences C,which is $P(C)\neq P(C|X)$. This is OK because we know that B is biased by our knowledge about its indirect effect, X, and since B is biased by X, this will influence B's all direct and indirect effects. C is a direct effect of B and it is influenced by our knowledge about X.   Well, up to this point, everything is OK for me since the flow of the information occurs according to intuitive cause-effect relationships. But I don't get the special behavior of so called "V-structures" or "Colliders" in this scheme. According to the d-Separation theory, B and D are the common causes of C in the graph above and it says that if we did not observe C or any of its descendants, the flow information from X is blocked at C. Well, OK, but my question is why?  From the three steps above, started from X, we saw that C is influenced by our knowledge about X and the information flow occurred according to the cause-effect relationship. The d-Separation theory says that we cannot go from C to D since C is not observed. But I think that since we know that C is biased and D is a cause of C, D should be affected as well while the theory says the opposite. I am clearly missing something in my thinking pattern but can't see what it is.  So I need an explanation of why the flow of information blocked at C, if C is not observed. How to Send Html Emails in Google Spreadsheet Here's an example of a Google Docs Spreadsheet script that sends emails using Google spreadsheets. I want the email Sent in HTML not plain text. Can someone help me out?  function sendEmails() {   var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();   var startRow = 2;  // First row of data to process   var numRows = 2;   // Number of rows to process   // Fetch the range of cells A2:B3   var dataRange = sheet.getRange(startRow, 1, numRows, 2)   // Fetch values for each row in the Range.   var data = dataRange.getValues();   for (i in data) {     var row = data[i];     var emailAddress = row[0];  // First column     var message = row[1];       // Second column     var subject = "Sending emails from a Spreadsheet";     MailApp.sendEmail(emailAddress, subject, message);   } }