diff --git a/Dockerfile.manylinux_2_28_x86_64 b/Dockerfile.manylinux_2_28_x86_64
index 2d14d0e8e2..1297f8ed05 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.manylinux_2_28_x86_64
+++ b/Dockerfile.manylinux_2_28_x86_64
@@ -29,16 +29,14 @@ FROM quay.io/pypa/manylinux_2_28_x86_64
 ARG MEDIAPIPE_DISABLE_GPU=1
 ENV MEDIAPIPE_DISABLE_GPU=${MEDIAPIPE_DISABLE_GPU}
 
-RUN yum install -y java-11-openjdk-devel zip
+RUN yum install -y java-21-openjdk-devel zip
+ENV JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk
 WORKDIR /tmp/bazel_build
-ADD https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/download/7.4.1/bazel-7.4.1-dist.zip bazel.zip
-RUN unzip bazel.zip
-RUN rm -f bazel.zip
+RUN curl -fL --retry 5 --retry-delay 5 --retry-connrefused \
+    -o /usr/local/bin/bazel https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/download/7.4.1/bazel-7.4.1-linux-x86_64 && \
+    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/bazel
+
 ENV PATH="/opt/python/cp36-cp36m/bin:${PATH}"
-ENV EXTRA_BAZEL_ARGS="--host_javabase=@local_jdk//:jdk"
-ENV BAZEL_LINKLIBS=-lm:-lstdc++
-RUN ./compile.sh
-RUN cp /tmp/bazel_build/output/bazel /bin/bazel
 
 
 # Install Clang 18
@@ -47,6 +45,12 @@ RUN mkdir /tmp/llvm-project && wget -qO - https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/a
     mkdir /tmp/llvm-project/build && cd /tmp/llvm-project/build && cmake -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS='clang;lld' -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/lib/llvm-18/ ../llvm && \
     make -j$(nproc) && make -j$(nproc) install && rm -rf /tmp/llvm-project
 
+# Install newer libstdc++ headers/libs for C++20 <span> support.
+RUN yum install -y gcc-toolset-14-gcc gcc-toolset-14-gcc-c++ gcc-toolset-14-libstdc++-devel
+ENV CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH="/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/include/c++/14:/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/include/c++/14/x86_64-redhat-linux:/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/include/c++/14/backward"
+ENV LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/lib64"
+ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/lib64"
+
 # Install OpenGL
 RUN yum install -y mesa-libGL mesa-libGL-devel mesa-libEGL mesa-libEGL-devel
 RUN yum install -y mesa-libGLES-devel
@@ -56,8 +60,9 @@ RUN yum install -y  epel-release && yum install -y java-11-openjdk \
     java-11-openjdk-devel zip emacs portaudio-devel
 
 # Copy Protobuf Compiler binary
-ARG PROTOC_ZIP=protoc-25.1-linux-x86_64.zip
-RUN curl -OL https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v25.1/$PROTOC_ZIP
+ARG PROTOC_VERSION=28.3
+ARG PROTOC_ZIP=protoc-${PROTOC_VERSION}-linux-x86_64.zip
+RUN curl -fLo $PROTOC_ZIP https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v${PROTOC_VERSION}/$PROTOC_ZIP
 RUN unzip -o $PROTOC_ZIP -d /usr/local bin/protoc
 RUN unzip -o $PROTOC_ZIP -d /usr/local 'include/*'
 RUN rm -f $PROTOC_ZIP
@@ -71,7 +76,7 @@ RUN cd /tmp/bazel_build/opencv && git checkout 4.10.0 && cd release && cmake ..
     -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/usr/lib/llvm-18/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/usr/lib/llvm-18/bin/clang++ \
     -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \
     -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DBUILD_LIST=imgproc,core \
-    -DWITH_ITT=OFF -DWITH_IPP=OFF -DBUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF \
+    -DWITH_ITT=OFF -DWITH_IPP=OFF -DBUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF -DBUILD_opencv_apps=OFF \
     -DBUILD_TESTS=OFF -DBUILD_PERF_TESTS=OFF -DBUILD_opencv_ts=OFF \
     -DCV_ENABLE_INTRINSICS=ON -DWITH_EIGEN=ON -DWITH_PTHREADS=ON -DWITH_PTHREADS_PF=ON
 RUN cd /tmp/bazel_build/opencv/release && make -j 16 && make install
@@ -85,12 +90,46 @@ RUN export MP_VERSION_NUMBER=$(awk '/MEDIAPIPE_FULL_VERSION/ {split($0, a, "=");
 
 # Set build flags for MediaPipe and OpenCV.
 RUN echo "build --client_env=CC=/usr/lib/llvm-18/bin/clang++" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --action_env=LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/lib64" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --action_env=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/lib64" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --linkopt=-L/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/lib64" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --linkopt=-lstdc++" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --host_action_env=CC=/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/bin/gcc" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --host_action_env=CXX=/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/bin/g++" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --host_linkopt=-L/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr/lib64" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --host_linkopt=-lstdc++" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --cxxopt=--gcc-toolchain=/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --linkopt=--gcc-toolchain=/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --host_cxxopt=--gcc-toolchain=/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr" >> .bazelrc && \
+    echo "build --host_linkopt=--gcc-toolchain=/opt/rh/gcc-toolset-14/root/usr" >> .bazelrc && \
     echo "build --define=xnn_enable_avxvnniint8=false" >> .bazelrc && \
     echo 'cc_library(name = "opencv", srcs = ["local/lib64/libopencv_imgproc.a", "local/lib64/libopencv_core.a"],hdrs = glob(["local/include/opencv4/opencv2/**/*.h*"]), includes = ["local/include/opencv4/"], linkstatic = 1, visibility = ["//visibility:public"])' > third_party/opencv_linux.BUILD && \
     sed -i "s|bazel_command.append('--define=OPENCV=source')|pass|g" setup.py
 
 # Apply diff to reduce the number of OpenCV dependencies.
-RUN patch -p1 < mediapipe_python_build.diff
+ARG MEDIAPIPE_PYTHON_BUILD_DIFF_URL=""
+RUN if [ ! -f mediapipe_python_build.diff ] && [ -n "${MEDIAPIPE_PYTHON_BUILD_DIFF_URL}" ]; then \
+      DIFF_URL="${MEDIAPIPE_PYTHON_BUILD_DIFF_URL}"; \
+      case "${DIFF_URL}" in \
+        https://github.com/*/blob/*) \
+          DIFF_URL="$(echo "${DIFF_URL}" | sed -e 's|^https://github.com/|https://raw.githubusercontent.com/|' -e 's|/blob/|/|')"; \
+          ;; \
+      esac; \
+      if ! curl -fsSL "${DIFF_URL}" -o mediapipe_python_build.diff; then \
+        echo "Failed to download mediapipe_python_build.diff; continuing without patch." >&2; \
+        rm -f mediapipe_python_build.diff; \
+      fi; \
+    fi && \
+    if [ -s mediapipe_python_build.diff ]; then \
+      patch -p1 < mediapipe_python_build.diff; \
+    else \
+      echo "mediapipe_python_build.diff not found; skipping OpenCV dependency reduction patch." >&2; \
+    fi
+
+# Disable GenAI converter targets when not needed.
+RUN sed -i '/genai\\/converter/d' mediapipe/tasks/c/BUILD && \
+    sed -i "s/ENABLE_ODML_CONVERTER=1/ENABLE_ODML_CONVERTER=0/g" setup.py && \
+    rm -rf mediapipe/tasks/c/genai
 
 ARG PYTHON_BIN="/opt/python/cp312-cp312/bin/python3.12"
 RUN $PYTHON_BIN -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools
diff --git a/build_manylinux_wheel.sh b/build_manylinux_wheel.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..860e48ec33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build_manylinux_wheel.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Builds the manylinux image and extracts wheels into ./wheelhouse.
+IMAGE_NAME="${IMAGE_NAME:-mp_manylinux}"
+PYTHON_BIN="${PYTHON_BIN:-/opt/python/cp312-cp312/bin/python3.12}"
+MEDIAPIPE_PYTHON_BUILD_DIFF_URL="${MEDIAPIPE_PYTHON_BUILD_DIFF_URL:-}"
+CONTAINER_NAME="${CONTAINER_NAME:-mp_pip_package_container}"
+
+DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build \
+  -f Dockerfile.manylinux_2_28_x86_64 \
+  -t "${IMAGE_NAME}" . \
+  --build-arg "PYTHON_BIN=${PYTHON_BIN}" \
+  --build-arg "MEDIAPIPE_PYTHON_BUILD_DIFF_URL=${MEDIAPIPE_PYTHON_BUILD_DIFF_URL}"
+
+docker create -ti --name "${CONTAINER_NAME}" "${IMAGE_NAME}:latest" >/dev/null
+mkdir -p wheelhouse
+docker cp "${CONTAINER_NAME}:/wheelhouse/." wheelhouse/
+docker rm -f "${CONTAINER_NAME}" >/dev/null
diff --git a/mediapipe/__init__.py b/mediapipe/__init__.py
index bf29fed398..c9e6337fc7 100644
--- a/mediapipe/__init__.py
+++ b/mediapipe/__init__.py
@@ -11,3 +11,31 @@
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
+import warnings
+
+try:
+  import mediapipe.tasks.python as tasks
+  from mediapipe.tasks.python.vision.core.image import Image
+  from mediapipe.tasks.python.vision.core.image import ImageFormat
+except Exception as e:  # pragma: no cover - optional tasks dependencies
+  tasks = None
+  Image = None
+  ImageFormat = None
+  warnings.warn(
+      "MediaPipe tasks APIs could not be imported. Some functionality may be "
+      f"unavailable. Original error: {e}",
+      RuntimeWarning,
+  )
+
+try:
+  from mediapipe.python import solutions
+except Exception as e:  # pragma: no cover - optional solutions dependencies
+  solutions = None
+  warnings.warn(
+      "MediaPipe solutions APIs could not be imported. Some functionality may "
+      f"be unavailable. Original error: {e}",
+      RuntimeWarning,
+  )
+
+
+__version__ = '0.10.32'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/mediapipe/tasks/c/BUILD b/mediapipe/tasks/c/BUILD
index 76613d0735..cd5a44e237 100644
--- a/mediapipe/tasks/c/BUILD
+++ b/mediapipe/tasks/c/BUILD
@@ -43,8 +43,6 @@ cc_binary(
         ":mediapipe_tasks_c_version_script.lds",
         "//mediapipe/tasks/c/audio/audio_classifier:audio_classifier_c_lib",
         "//mediapipe/tasks/c/core:common",
-        "//mediapipe/tasks/c/genai/bundler:llm_bundler_utils_c_lib",
-        "//mediapipe/tasks/c/genai/converter:llm_converter_c_lib",
         "//mediapipe/tasks/c/metadata:flatbuffer_api_c_lib",
         "//mediapipe/tasks/c/text/language_detector:language_detector_c_lib",
         "//mediapipe/tasks/c/text/text_classifier:text_classifier_c_lib",
diff --git a/mediapipe/tasks/python/__init__.py b/mediapipe/tasks/python/__init__.py
index 1861d1049f..7a40148cc7 100644
--- a/mediapipe/tasks/python/__init__.py
+++ b/mediapipe/tasks/python/__init__.py
@@ -14,14 +14,34 @@
 
 """MediaPipe Tasks API."""
 
-from . import audio
-from . import components
-from . import core
-from . import genai
-from . import text
-from . import vision
+import importlib
+import warnings
 
-BaseOptions = core.base_options.BaseOptions
+
+def _safe_import(name: str):
+  try:
+    return importlib.import_module(name)
+  except Exception as e:  # pragma: no cover - optional modules
+    warnings.warn(
+        f"MediaPipe Tasks submodule '{name}' could not be imported: {e}",
+        RuntimeWarning,
+    )
+    return None
+
+
+audio = _safe_import(__name__ + ".audio")
+components = _safe_import(__name__ + ".components")
+core = _safe_import(__name__ + ".core")
+genai = _safe_import(__name__ + ".genai")
+text = _safe_import(__name__ + ".text")
+vision = _safe_import(__name__ + ".vision")
+
+if core is not None:
+  BaseOptions = core.base_options.BaseOptions
+else:
+  BaseOptions = None
 
 # Remove unnecessary modules to avoid duplication in API docs.
-del core
+if core is not None:
+  del core
+
diff --git a/mediapipe/tasks/python/metadata/metadata.py b/mediapipe/tasks/python/metadata/metadata.py
index 611f6195f8..81c8d1540e 100644
--- a/mediapipe/tasks/python/metadata/metadata.py
+++ b/mediapipe/tasks/python/metadata/metadata.py
@@ -30,7 +30,10 @@
 
 import flatbuffers
 
-from mediapipe.tasks.cc.metadata.python import _pywrap_metadata_version
+try:
+  from mediapipe.tasks.cc.metadata.python import _pywrap_metadata_version
+except ModuleNotFoundError:  # pragma: no cover - optional native extension
+  _pywrap_metadata_version = None
 from mediapipe.tasks.metadata import metadata_schema_py_generated as _metadata_fb
 from mediapipe.tasks.metadata import schema_py_generated as _schema_fb
 from mediapipe.tasks.python.core import mediapipe_c_bindings
@@ -391,6 +394,12 @@ def load_metadata_buffer(self, metadata_buf):
     self._validate_metadata(metadata_buf)
 
     # Gets the minimum metadata parser version of the metadata_buf.
+    if _pywrap_metadata_version is None:
+      raise RuntimeError(
+          "Metadata population requires mediapipe.tasks.cc, which is not "
+          "available in this build. Use a MediaPipe build that ships the "
+          "native metadata bindings or avoid metadata export."
+      )
     min_version = _pywrap_metadata_version.GetMinimumMetadataParserVersion(
         bytes(metadata_buf))
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2c5a77c4d6..b828c1eb44 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 from setuptools.command import build_py
 from setuptools.command import install
 
-__version__ = 'dev'
+
 MP_DISABLE_GPU = os.environ.get('MEDIAPIPE_DISABLE_GPU') != '0'
 IS_WINDOWS = (platform.system() == 'Windows')
 IS_MAC = (platform.system() == 'Darwin')
@@ -39,6 +39,17 @@
 MP_THIRD_PARTY_BUILD = os.path.join(MP_ROOT_PATH, 'third_party/BUILD')
 MP_ROOT_INIT_PY = os.path.join(MP_ROOT_PATH, '__init__.py')
 
+def _read_version():
+  version_file = os.path.join(MP_ROOT_PATH, 'mediapipe', 'version.bzl')
+  with open(version_file, 'r') as f:
+    for line in f:
+      if line.startswith('MEDIAPIPE_FULL_VERSION'):
+        return line.split('=')[1].strip().strip('"')
+  return 'dev'
+
+
+__version__ = _read_version()
+
 GPU_OPTIONS_DISABLED = ['--define=MEDIAPIPE_DISABLE_GPU=1']
 GPU_OPTIONS_ENABLED = [
     '--copt=-DTFLITE_GPU_EXTRA_GLES_DEPS',
@@ -134,18 +145,7 @@ def _add_mp_init_files():
   """Add __init__.py to mediapipe root directories to make the subdirectories indexable."""
   open(MP_ROOT_INIT_PY, 'w').close()
   # Save the original mediapipe/__init__.py file.
-  shutil.copyfile(MP_DIR_INIT_PY, _get_backup_file(MP_DIR_INIT_PY))
-  mp_dir_init_file = open(MP_DIR_INIT_PY, 'a')
-  mp_dir_init_file.writelines([
-      '\n',
-      'import mediapipe.tasks.python as tasks\n',
-      'from mediapipe.tasks.python.vision.core.image import Image\n',
-      'from mediapipe.tasks.python.vision.core.image import ImageFormat\n',
-      '\n\n',
-      "__version__ = '{}'".format(__version__),
-      '\n',
-  ])
-  mp_dir_init_file.close()
+
 
 
 def _copy_to_build_lib_dir(build_lib, file):
@@ -412,3 +412,13 @@ def run(self):
     license='Apache 2.0',
     keywords='mediapipe',
 )
+def _read_version():
+  version_file = os.path.join(MP_ROOT_PATH, 'mediapipe', 'version.bzl')
+  with open(version_file, 'r') as f:
+    for line in f:
+      if line.startswith('MEDIAPIPE_FULL_VERSION'):
+        return line.split('=')[1].strip().strip('"')
+  return 'dev'
+
+
+__version__ = _read_version()
diff --git a/third_party/BUILD b/third_party/BUILD
index 2ab0a7d00e..d7579f0039 100644
--- a/third_party/BUILD
+++ b/third_party/BUILD
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ OPENCV_MODULES = [
 # still only builds the shared libraries, so we have to choose one or the
 # other. We build shared libraries by default, but this variable can be used
 # to switch to static libraries.
-OPENCV_SHARED_LIBS = True
+OPENCV_SHARED_LIBS = False
 
 OPENCV_SO_VERSION = "3.4"