update CI workflows: update/fix codecheck; remove Ubuntu 18.04 (#1167)

1. update/fix codecheck

Run workflow with pylint 2.15.7

Add a  bunch of fiddly and mostly cosmetic changes to
make pylint (and make codecheck) happy.

Also try to run pyflakes3 vs. pyflakes

2. remove Ubuntu 18.04

Ubuntu 18.04 has been removed from github actions, so
we remove it from our workflow as well

.pylint

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 #init-hook=
 
 # Profiled execution.
-profile=no
+#profile=no
 
 # Add <file or directory> to the black list. It should be a base name, not a
 # path. You may set this option multiple times.
@@ -45,12 +45,13 @@ load-plugins=
 # Note: we may want to re-enable some of these at some point, but many of them
 # are just style issues rather than errors.
 #
-disable=pointless-except, invalid-name, super-init-not-called, fixme, star-args,
+disable=invalid-name, super-init-not-called, fixme,
         too-many-instance-attributes, too-few-public-methods,
-        too-many-locals, too-many-public-methods, duplicate-code, bad-whitespace,
-        locally-disabled, locally-enabled, bad-continuation,
+        too-many-locals, too-many-public-methods, duplicate-code,
+        locally-disabled,
         useless-object-inheritance, unnecessary-pass, no-else-return,
-        no-else-raise, no-else-continue, super-with-arguments
+        no-else-raise, no-else-continue, super-with-arguments,
+        consider-using-f-string, unspecified-encoding
 
 # bad-continuation, wrong-import-order
 
@@ -62,12 +63,12 @@ output-format=colorized
 msg-template='{path}:{line}: [{msg_id}({symbol}), {obj}] {msg}'
 
 # Include message's id in output
-include-ids=yes
+# include-ids=yes
 
 # Put messages in a separate file for each module / package specified on the
 # command line instead of printing them on stdout. Reports (if any) will be
 # written in a file name "pylint_global.[txt|html]".
-files-output=no
+# files-output=no
 
 # Tells whether to display a full report or only the messages
 reports=no
@@ -81,7 +82,7 @@ evaluation=10.0 - ((float(5 * error + warning + refactor + convention) / stateme
 
 # Add a comment according to your evaluation note. This is used by the global
 # evaluation report (R0004).
-comment=no
+#comment=no
 
 # Enable the report(s) with the given id(s).
 #enable-report=
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ comment=no
 [BASIC]
 
 # Required attributes for module, separated by a comma
-required-attributes=
+#required-attributes=
 
 # Regular expression which should only match functions or classes name which do
 # not require a docstring
@@ -144,7 +145,7 @@ good-names=i,j,k,ex,Run,_
 bad-names=foo,bar,baz,toto,tutu,tata
 
 # List of builtins function names that should not be used, separated by a comma
-bad-functions=map,filter,apply,inpu
+#bad-functions=map,filter,apply,inpu
 
 
 # try to find bugs in the code using type inference
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ ignored-classes=SQLObjec
 
 # When zope mode is activated, add a predefined set of Zope acquired attributes
 # to generated-members.
-zope=no
+#zope=no
 
 # List of members which are set dynamically and missed by pylint inference
 # system, and so shouldn't trigger E0201 when accessed.
@@ -199,7 +200,7 @@ additional-builtins=
 
 # List of interface methods to ignore, separated by a comma. This is used for
 # instance to not check methods defines in Zope's Interface base class.
-ignore-iface-methods=isImplementedBy,deferred,extends,names,namesAndDescriptions,queryDescriptionFor,getBases,getDescriptionFor,getDoc,getName,getTaggedValue,getTaggedValueTags,isEqualOrExtendedBy,setTaggedValue,isImplementedByInstancesOf,adaptWith,is_implemented_by
+#ignore-iface-methods=isImplementedBy,deferred,extends,names,namesAndDescriptions,queryDescriptionFor,getBases,getDescriptionFor,getDoc,getName,getTaggedValue,getTaggedValueTags,isEqualOrExtendedBy,setTaggedValue,isImplementedByInstancesOf,adaptWith,is_implemented_by
 
 # List of method names used to declare (i.e. assign) instance attributes.
 defining-attr-methods=__init__,__new__,setUp,build
@@ -221,7 +222,7 @@ max-locals=15
 max-returns=6
 
 # Maximum number of branch for function / method body
-max-branchs=12
+#max-branchs=12
 
 # Maximum number of statements in function / method body
 max-statements=50