tensorflow-text 2.21.0 fails to import: undefined symbol icudt77_dat #1541

Description

tensorflow-text==2.21.0 fails to import with an undefined symbol: icudt77_dat error. This occurs even with a matching tensorflow==2.21.0 install in a clean environment. tensorflow-text==2.20.1 works fine.

Reproduction (Google Colab)

!pip install tensorflow==2.21.0 tensorflow-text==2.21.0

import tensorflow as tf
print(f"TensorFlow: {tf.__version__}")  # Works: 2.21.0

import tensorflow_text as tft  # CRASHES
print(f"TensorFlow Text: {tft.__version__}")

Error

TensorFlow: 2.21.0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ImportError                               Traceback (most recent call last)
[/tmp/ipykernel_4024/3772396424.py](https://localhost:8080/#) in <cell line: 0>()
      2 print(f"TensorFlow: {tf.__version__}")  # Works: 2.21.0
      3 
----> 4 import tensorflow_text as tft  # CRASHES
      5 print(f"TensorFlow Text: {tft.__version__}")

[/usr/local/lib/python3.13/dist-packages/tensorflow_text/__init__.py](https://localhost:8080/#) in <module>
     18 
     19 # pylint: disable=wildcard-import
---> 20 from tensorflow_text.core.pybinds import tflite_registrar
     21 from tensorflow_text.python import keras
     22 from tensorflow_text.python import metrics

ImportError: /usr/local/lib/python3.13/dist-packages/tensorflow_text/core/pybinds/libpybinds_library_common.so: undefined symbol: icudt77_dat

Investigation

We verified the following on Colab:

• System ICU version: 70.1-2 (libicudata.so.70), confirmed via ldconfig -p | grep libicu and dpkg -l | grep libicu
• tensorflow-text 2.20.1: Works correctly with tensorflow==2.20.0 on the same system

The icudt77_dat symbol expected by libpybinds_library_common.so is from ICU 77, which is not available on standard Linux distributions:

• Ubuntu 22.04: ICU 70
• Ubuntu 24.04: ICU 72
• Debian 12: ICU 72

Impact

• Any user running pip install tensorflow-text without a version pin gets 2.21.0, which is broken
• KerasHub CI was broken across all backends. Required an emergency patch release (v0.31.1) with tensorflow-text<2.21.0 pinned (keras-team/keras-hub#2979)
• Any downstream project depending on tensorflow-text without an upper bound is affected

Workaround

pip install "tensorflow-text>=2.20.1,<2.21.0"

Environment

• Python: 3.13 (Google Colab)
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04
• tensorflow: 2.21.0
• tensorflow-text: 2.21.0
• System ICU: 70.1-2