Probe QtWidgets, not QtCore: the qt backend needs the full GUI stack

QtCore's libraries (glib, icu) can load while QtWidgets/QtGui still
miss libGL - matplotlib's qt backend imports all three, so the old
probe could promise QtAgg and lose even the error figure at
switch_backend, one library layer deeper than the NixOS fix. The
regression test's mock now mirrors the real failure (bare package and
QtCore import fine, GUI modules raise): both the bare-import and the
QtCore-probe variants now fail it, verified by mutation. Also drop two
redundant f-prefixes on placeholder-less strings in report.py.

fill_resistance/plots.py

@@ -26,14 +26,18 @@ def _pick_backend():
     ("Cannot load backend 'TkAgg' ... as 'qt' is currently running") -
     exactly what happened on macOS, whose bundled Python ships tkinter.
 
-    The probe must import the binding's native core, not just the
-    package: on NixOS `import PySide6` succeeds (pure __init__) while
-    QtCore's .so cannot find the system libraries pip wheels expect
-    ("libgthread-2.0.so.0: cannot open shared object file") - promising
-    QtAgg then kills even the error figure at switch_backend time."""
+    The probe must import QtWidgets, not just the package or QtCore:
+    on NixOS `import PySide6` succeeds (pure __init__) while QtCore's
+    .so cannot find the system libraries pip wheels expect
+    ("libgthread-2.0.so.0: cannot open shared object file"), and on a
+    partially provisioned system QtCore's deps (glib, icu) can be
+    present while QtWidgets/QtGui still miss libGL/libEGL. matplotlib's
+    qt backend imports QtCore, QtGui and QtWidgets, so probe the widest
+    one - promising QtAgg then kills even the error figure at
+    switch_backend time."""
     for qt in ("PySide6", "PyQt6", "PyQt5", "PySide2"):
         try:
-            __import__(qt + ".QtCore")
+            __import__(qt + ".QtWidgets")
             return "QtAgg" if qt in ("PySide6", "PyQt6") else "Qt5Agg"
         except Exception:
             continue

fill_resistance/report.py

@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ def write_summary(outdir: Path, problem: Problem, stack: RasterStack,
         f"resistivity:       {problem.rho_ohm_m:.3e} ohm*m",
         f"via plating:       {problem.plating_nm / 1000:.0f} um",
         "",
-        (f"frequency:         "
+        ("frequency:         "
          + (f"{result.freq_hz:g} Hz (skin depth {result.skin_depth_um:.0f} um)"
             if result.freq_hz > 0 else "DC")),
         f"RESISTANCE:        {result.R_ohm * 1000:.6g} mOhm"
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ def write_summary(outdir: Path, problem: Problem, stack: RasterStack,
         f"contact model:     {result.contact_model}"
         + ("  (uniform orthogonal injection; R is the upper contact bound)"
            if result.contact_model == "uniform" else "  (ideal bonded lug)"),
-        f"terminals:",
+        "terminals:",
         f"  V+ ({len(problem.electrodes1)} injection area(s)):",
         *(f"    {_electrode_line(e)}" for e in problem.electrodes1),
         f"  V- ({len(problem.electrodes2)} injection area(s)):",

tests/test_platform_fallbacks.py

@@ -20,19 +20,27 @@ def test_backend_prefers_qt_over_tk():
     assert plots._pick_backend() in ("QtAgg", "Qt5Agg")
 
 
-def test_backend_probe_requires_working_qtcore(monkeypatch):
+def test_backend_probe_requires_working_qt_gui_stack(monkeypatch):
     # NixOS: `import PySide6` succeeds (a pure-Python __init__) while
-    # QtCore's .so cannot load the FHS system libraries pip wheels
-    # expect. The probe must import the native core and fall through -
-    # promising QtAgg kills even the error figure at switch_backend
-    # time, and the failure report with it.
+    # the native .so's cannot load the FHS system libraries pip wheels
+    # expect; on a partially provisioned system even QtCore loads
+    # (glib, icu present) while QtWidgets/QtGui still miss libGL. The
+    # probe must import QtWidgets and fall through - promising QtAgg
+    # kills even the error figure at switch_backend time, and the
+    # failure report with it. The mock mirrors that faithfully (bare
+    # package and QtCore succeed, GUI modules fail) so a probe reverted
+    # to `__import__(qt)` or `.QtCore` would wrongly return QtAgg here.
     import builtins
+    import types
     real_import = builtins.__import__
 
     def broken_qt(name, *args, **kwargs):
-        if name.split(".")[0] in ("PySide6", "PyQt6", "PyQt5", "PySide2"):
-            raise ImportError("libgthread-2.0.so.0: cannot open shared "
-                              "object file: No such file or directory")
+        root, _, sub = name.partition(".")
+        if root in ("PySide6", "PyQt6", "PyQt5", "PySide2"):
+            if sub in ("", "QtCore"):
+                return types.ModuleType(name)
+            raise ImportError("libGL.so.1: cannot open shared object "
+                              "file: No such file or directory")
         return real_import(name, *args, **kwargs)
 
     monkeypatch.setattr(builtins, "__import__", broken_qt)