diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 736424f85..3903d2d61 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ build
 build-*
 # pymarian wheels
 dist/
+tmp
+tmp-*
+tmp.*
 
 # Examples
 examples/*/*.gz
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index afa4465ce..887f76bb2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.
 - Fixed compilation with clang 16.0.6
 - Added Threads::Threads to `EXT_LIBS`
 - Updates to pymarian: building for multiple python versions; disabling tcmalloc; hosting gated COMETs on HuggingFace
+- Scripts for building _manylinux_ compatible wheel files (a requirement for publishing wheels on PyPI)
 
 ### Added
 - Added `--normalize-gradient-by-ratio` to mildly adapt gradient magnitude if effective batch size diverges from running average effective batch size.
diff --git a/cmake/PythonModules.cmake b/cmake/PythonModules.cmake
index 062155647..0cd168911 100644
--- a/cmake/PythonModules.cmake
+++ b/cmake/PythonModules.cmake
@@ -34,10 +34,8 @@ macro(py_exec)
     endif()
 endmacro()
 
-set(PYBIND11_NOPYTHON On)
-# this wont work if pybind11 is git submodule
-#find_package(pybind11 REQUIRED)
-
+# NOTE: this property must be set before including pybind11
+# set(PYBIND11_NOPYTHON On)
 ## =====================
 set(PYTHON_SEARCH_VERSIONS 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13)
 set(PYTHON_DISABLE_VERSIONS "" CACHE STRING "")
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index fb5bdca98..f94643500 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -292,7 +292,9 @@ endif(GENERATE_MARIAN_INSTALL_TARGETS)
 
 
 if(PYMARIAN)
-  # python libs which use different version of tcmalloc (e.g. pandas) can cause segfaults, so we disable it
+  # this property must be set **before** including pybind11
+  # otherwise pybind will intervene with our own python version detection
+  set(PYBIND11_NOPYTHON On)
   include_directories(3rd_party/pybind11/include)
   add_subdirectory(3rd_party/pybind11)
   include(PythonModules)
diff --git a/src/python/build-manylinux.sh b/src/python/build-manylinux.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..bfddd7876
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/python/build-manylinux.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# DO NOT call this script directly (unless you know what you are doing).
+#    Use the build.sh script instead.
+# this script builds pymarian wheels for multiple python versions
+# it uses mamba to create python environments and builds the wheels
+# it also creates manylinux wheels using auditwheel
+
+set -eu
+MYDIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+MARIAN_ROOT="$( cd "$MYDIR/../.." && pwd )"
+# assume this directory is mounted in the docker container
+cd $MARIAN_ROOT
+
+#MKL is not in docker image
+# yum-config-manager --add-repo https://yum.repos.intel.com/setup/intelproducts.repo
+yum-config-manager --add-repo https://yum.repos.intel.com/mkl/setup/intel-mkl.repo
+rpm --import https://yum.repos.intel.com/intel-gpg-keys/GPG-PUB-KEY-INTEL-SW-PRODUCTS-2019.PUB
+yum install -y intel-mkl-64bit-2020.4-912
+
+# TODO: build a docker image with MKL and mamba installed
+
+COMPILE_CUDA=1
+PY_VERSIONS="$(echo 3.{12,11,10,9,8})"
+
+# quick testing: compile for only one version and for CPU only
+#COMPILE_CUDA=0
+#PY_VERSIONS="3.10"
+
+# GLIBC we use for compiling marian should be compatible for newer platforms
+# So we use an old GLIBC that works (e.g. 2.17), thus ensuring maximum compatibility
+PY_PLATFORM="manylinux_2_17_x86_64"   #  GLIBC must be 2.17 (or older) for this platform
+echo "$(ldd --version | head -1); platform=$PY_PLATFORM"
+which mamba >& /dev/null || {
+    name=Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh
+    mambadir=tmp/mamba-$(uname)-$(uname -m)
+    mkdir -p tmp/
+    [[ -s $mambadir/bin/activate ]] || {
+        [[ -s $name ]] || {
+            rm -f $name.tmp
+            wget -q "https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/$name" -O tmp/$name.tmp \
+                && mv tmp/$name{.tmp,}
+        }
+        bash tmp/$name -b -u -p $mambadir/
+        $mambadir/bin/mamba init bash
+    }
+    source $mambadir/etc/profile.d/mamba.sh
+    source $mambadir/bin/activate
+}
+
+# check if mamba is available
+which mamba || {
+    echo "mamba not found. Exiting."
+    exit 1
+}
+
+# create environment for each version
+
+for v in $PY_VERSIONS; do
+    mamba env list | grep -q "^py${v}" || {
+        echo "Creating python $v environment"
+        mamba create -q -y -n py${v} python=${v}
+   }
+done
+
+# stack all environments
+for v in $PY_VERSIONS; do mamba activate py${v} --stack; done
+# check if all python versions are available
+for v in $PY_VERSIONS; do which python$v; done
+
+
+# Build as usual
+build_dir=$MARIAN_ROOT/build-pymarian
+fresh_build=1
+if [[ $fresh_build -eq 1 && -d $build_dir ]]; then
+    backup_dir=$build_dir.$(date +%y%m%d%H%M%S)
+    echo "Moving existing build directory to $backup_dir"
+    mv $build_dir $backup_dir
+fi
+
+mkdir -p $build_dir
+cd $build_dir
+
+#CMAKE_FLAGS="-DPYMARIAN=on -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DUSE_STATIC_LIBS=on -DUSE_FBGEMM=on"
+CMAKE_FLAGS="-DPYMARIAN=on -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Slim -DUSE_STATIC_LIBS=on -DUSE_FBGEMM=on"
+# for cuda support
+if [[ $COMPILE_CUDA -eq 1 ]]; then
+    CMAKE_FLAGS+=" -DCOMPILE_CUDA=on -DCOMPILE_PASCAL=ON -DCOMPILE_VOLTA=ON -DCOMPILE_TURING=ON -DCOMPILE_AMPERE=ON -DCOMPILE_AMPERE_RTX=ON"
+else
+    CMAKE_FLAGS+=" -DCOMPILE_CUDA=off -DCOMPILE_CPU=on"
+fi
+
+cmake .. $CMAKE_FLAGS
+make -j
+ls -lh pymarian*.whl
+
+echo "=== Generating manylinux wheels ==="
+# make the wheels manylinux compatible
+auditwheel repair --plat $PY_PLATFORM *.whl -w manylinux/
+ls -lh manylinux/
+
+echo "=== Done ==="
diff --git a/src/python/build.sh b/src/python/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..22e90c311
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/python/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# This script is used to build the Python wheels.
+# A requirement is that we have to use older GLIBC versions to ensure maximum compatibility.
+# Python folks call it "manylinux" wheels and recommed using docker images to build them.
+# official manylinux docs: https://github.com/pypa/manylinux
+#     But the official manylinux images doesnt have CUDA support.
+# So we use the "pytorch/manylinux-builder" image which has CUDA support.
+#     Available tags: https://hub.docker.com/r/pytorch/manylinux-builder/tags
+
+
+LINUX_IMAGE="pytorch/manylinux-builder:cuda12.1"
+MYDIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+MARIAN_ROOT="$( cd "$MYDIR/../.." && pwd )"
+
+set -x
+LINUX_BUILDER="src/python/build-manylinux.sh"
+MOUNT="/work"
+docker run --rm -it -v $MARIAN_ROOT:$MOUNT $LINUX_IMAGE $MOUNT/$LINUX_BUILDER
diff --git a/src/python/pyproject.toml b/src/python/pyproject.toml
index 30eb16f36..cb39417b6 100644
--- a/src/python/pyproject.toml
+++ b/src/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "pyyaml",
   "tqdm",
   "requests",
-  "huggingface-hub==0.23.1",
+  "huggingface-hub",
 ]
 
 [project.scripts]
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ demos = [
   "flask",
   "sacremoses",
   "pyqt5",
-  "sentence-splitter@git+https://github.com/mediacloud/sentence-splitter",
+#  "sentence-splitter@git+https://github.com/mediacloud/sentence-splitter",
 ]