php7 on ubuntu 16.04 not fully configured. - 21 dpkg dependency problems

Question

I upgraded from 14.04 to 16.04. the server is up and running but dpkg has 21 dependency errors which I cant solve and prevents installing new packages and building new websites.

I removed the list with

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

and this is where the errors start

$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
21 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Setting up php7.0-common (7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1) ...
dpkg: error processing package php7.0-common (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 10
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-json:
 php7.0-json depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-json (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-opcache:
 php7.0-opcache depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-opcache (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-readline:
 php7.0-readline depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-readline (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-cli:
 php7.0-cli depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.
 php7.0-cli depends on php7.0-json; however:
  Package php7.0-json is not configured yet.
 php7.0-cli depends on php7.0-opcache; however:
  Package php7.0-opcache is not configured yet.
 php7.0-cli depends on php7.0-readline; however:
  Package php7.0-readline is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-cli (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libapache2-mod-php7.0:
 libapache2-mod-php7.0 depends on php7.0-cli; however:
  Package php7.0-cli is not configured yet.
 libapache2-mod-php7.0 depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.
 libapache2-mod-php7.0 depends on php7.0-json; however:
  Package php7.0-json is not configured yet.
 libapache2-mod-php7.0 depends on php7.0-opcache; however:
  Package php7.0-opcache is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libapache2-mod-php7.0 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libapache2-mod-php:
 libapache2-mod-php depends on libapache2-mod-php7.0; however:
  Package libapache2-mod-php7.0 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libapache2-mod-php (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-gd:
 php7.0-gd depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-gd (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php-gd:
 php-gd depends on php7.0-gd; however:
  Package php7.0-gd is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php-gd (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-xml:
 php7.0-xml depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-xml (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php-xml:
 php-xml depends on php7.0-xml; however:
  Package php7.0-xml is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php-xml (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php-pear:
 php-pear depends on php-cli; however:
  Package php-cli is not installed.
  Package php7.0-cli which provides php-cli is not configured yet.
 php-pear depends on php-xml; however:
  Package php-xml is not configured yet.
  Package php7.0-xml which provides php-xml is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php-pear (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php-gettext:
 php-gettext depends on php-pear; however:
  Package php-pear is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php-gettext (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-mbstring:
 php7.0-mbstring depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-mbstring (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php-mbstring:
 php-mbstring depends on php7.0-mbstring; however:
  Package php7.0-mbstring is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php-mbstring (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-mcrypt:
 php7.0-mcrypt depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-mcrypt (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php-mcrypt:
 php-mcrypt depends on php7.0-mcrypt; however:
  Package php7.0-mcrypt is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php-mcrypt (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-mysql:
 php7.0-mysql depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-mysql (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php-mysql:
 php-mysql depends on php7.0-mysql; however:
  Package php7.0-mysql is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php-mysql (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of php7.0-curl:
 php7.0-curl depends on php7.0-common (= 7.0.11-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+1); however:
  Package php7.0-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package php7.0-curl (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of pkg-php-tools:
 pkg-php-tools depends on php-pear; however:
  Package php-pear is not configured yet.
 pkg-php-tools depends on php-cli; however:
  Package php-cli is not installed.
  Package php7.0-cli which provides php-cli is not configured yet.
 pkg-php-tools depends on php-json; however:
  Package php-json is not installed.
  Package php7.0-json which provides php-json is not configured yet.
 pkg-php-tools depends on php-xml; however:
  Package php-xml is not configured yet.
  Package php7.0-xml which provides php-xml is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package pkg-php-tools (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
Errors were encountered while processing:
 php7.0-common
 php7.0-json
 php7.0-opcache
 php7.0-readline
 php7.0-cli
 libapache2-mod-php7.0
 libapache2-mod-php
 php7.0-gd
 php-gd
 php7.0-xml
 php-xml
 php-pear
 php-gettext
 php7.0-mbstring
 php-mbstring
 php7.0-mcrypt
 php-mcrypt
 php7.0-mysql
 php-mysql
 php7.0-curl
 pkg-php-tools
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Solution

These erros appears because you removed /var/lib/apt/lists/*.
If you do sudo dpkg --configure -a you'll see those errors too.
If when you do sudo apt-get install php7.0 and you get this:

"Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done php7.0 is already the newest version (7.0.19-1+deb.sury.org~xenial+2).
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libmcrypt4 libpcre3-dev libpcre32-3 shtool xml2
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded. [...]"

You should do: sudo apt autoremove libmcrypt4
and u'll see:
"The following packages will be REMOVED (too): libmcrypt4 libpcre3-dev libpcre32-3 shtool xml2"
...and automatically some triggers process will run and create new config files.
Now do again sudo dpkg --configure -a and none error (I think) will appear.
BTW. change you Download Server. If doesn't Reload, no problem, open terminal and do sudo apt-get update.

Comments

[Simon Quigley]

What's the output of sudo apt update ?

[Greg Smith]

sudo apt-get update runs with no errors and rebuilds the list - sudo apt-get upgrade starts and then returns the errors above. Its PHP7.0,11 by the way