@JKSH I've made some progress - merged my changes from QtSvg 6.10 into 6.12. Also tried rebase (on a separate copy), but rebasing is a separate sorcery skill I clearly do not possess at the moment.
The merged version builds, but my CMakeUserPresets got lost somewhere in the merging, and now Qt Creator builds everything in the repo/build directory. A minor inconvenience, but tolerable.
Running tests and examples against the new build (and ensuring they are run against the new build) needs more time. I remember trying my previous CMake build with a custom LD_LIBRARY_PATH to ensure it uses the right stuff. Maybe it will be applicable in this case as well. Qt Creator likely has env variables somewhere in the Project settings, haven't explored those yet. The AI that I poke with different stupid questions also suggests that I can try
ldd /path/to/your/example | grep Svg to verify that the example/test will use the correct library before running it.
I'll circle back to this thread when I have more info to share.