Thanks Nish, I think the problem was with libapache2-mod-php5.6 still being installed from another ppa:
For users who might encounter this I did the following: $ sudo apt-get remove --purge php* $ dpkg -l | grep php rc libapache2-mod-php5.6 5.6.30-1+deb.sury.org~yakkety+1 amd64 server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language (Apache 2 module) rc libapache2-mod-php7.1 7.1.8-1ubuntu1 amd64 server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language (Apache 2 module) $ sudo apt-get purge libapache2-mod-php* $ sudo apt-get install php ** Changed in: php7.1 (Ubuntu) Status: Incomplete => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1710007 Title: error processing package libapache2-mod-php7.1 (--configure) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/php7.1/+bug/1710007/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs