Assorted C++ / SCons cleanup

[speth]

Changes proposed in this pull request

• Update check for Boost to specify 1.70 as minimum version
• Use FMT_HEADER_ONLY only for platforms and fmt versions where necessary (revises fix for #1540)
• Fix reporting Eigen version during build process
• Clean up spacing around angle brackets in templates, e.g. change vector<vector<double> > to vector<vector<double>>
• Deprecate unused begin() / end() methods of matrix classes
• Remove vestigial ReactorSurface data from WallBase
• Keep conda build environment path out of generated cantera.pc
• Skip pint-based tests for pint<0.17.0, where the test helpers aren't available

Checklist

• [x] The pull request includes a clear description of this code change
• [x] Commit messages have short titles and reference relevant issues
• [x] Build passes (scons build & scons test) and unit tests address code coverage
• [x] Style & formatting of contributed code follows contributing guidelines
• [x] The pull request is ready for review

[codecov[bot]]

Codecov Report

Merging #1574 (c1eec22) into main (25851e7) will decrease coverage by 0.02%. The diff coverage is 59.57%.

:exclamation: Current head c1eec22 differs from pull request most recent head 3b30d09. Consider uploading reports for the commit 3b30d09 to get more accurate results

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #1574      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   70.53%   70.52%   -0.02%     
==========================================
  Files         379      379              
  Lines       59110    59122      +12     
  Branches    21232    21238       +6     
==========================================
+ Hits        41695    41697       +2     
- Misses      14340    14352      +12     
+ Partials     3075     3073       -2     

Files Changed	Coverage Δ
include/cantera/base/AnyMap.h	80.00% <ø> (ø)
include/cantera/base/Array.h	96.00% <ø> (+13.24%)	:arrow_up:
include/cantera/base/ValueCache.h	100.00% <ø> (ø)
include/cantera/kinetics/InterfaceKinetics.h	87.50% <ø> (ø)
include/cantera/kinetics/Kinetics.h	32.66% <ø> (ø)
include/cantera/kinetics/ReactionPath.h	67.44% <ø> (ø)
include/cantera/kinetics/ThirdBodyCalc.h	98.38% <ø> (ø)
include/cantera/numerics/BandMatrix.h	0.00% <ø> (ø)
include/cantera/numerics/GeneralMatrix.h	15.38% <ø> (ø)
...nclude/cantera/thermo/CoverageDependentSurfPhase.h	100.00% <ø> (+32.00%)	:arrow_up:
... and 10 more

... and 1 file with indirect coverage changes

:mega: We’re building smart automated test selection to slash your CI/CD build times. Learn more

[ischoegl]

PS: Regarding the removal of ReactorSurface from Wall it may be worth revisiting in the future.

[speth]

PS: Regarding the removal of ReactorSurface from Wall it may be worth revisiting in the future.

I don't think so. The only thing that Wall and ReactorSurface have in common is that they both have an area. Wall objects represent interactions between two reactors, while ReactorSurface objects represent heterogeneous kinetics in a single reactor. Separating these capabilities led to a significant simplification in setting up networks with ReactorSurfaces, since you don't need to define a separate Reactor or Reservoir to insert the wall between just to be able to add a reacting surface.

[ischoegl]

I guess I misspoke: it's actually WallBase I had in mind, see doxygen wallGroup. While this may still not make sense, there's also this old issue that we may be able to resolve at some point ... https://github.com/Cantera/enhancements/discussions/92