diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/BUILD.bazel b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/BUILD.bazel
index ce8635759c..273dae00b4 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/BUILD.bazel
@@ -82,7 +82,10 @@ cc_library(
 
 cc_library(
     name = "versions",
-    hdrs = ["versions.h"],
+    hdrs = [
+        "versions.h",
+        "versions_suffix.h",
+    ],
     copts = COPTS,
     include_prefix = "google/protobuf/compiler",
     visibility = [
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/cpp/file.cc b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/cpp/file.cc
index 700b0c95c4..da1c6c768e 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/cpp/file.cc
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/cpp/file.cc
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ void FileGenerator::GenerateFile(io::Printer* p, GeneratedFileType file_type,
       "// source: $filename$\n");
   if (options_.opensource_runtime) {
     p->Print("// Protobuf C++ Version: $protobuf_cpp_version$\n",
-             "protobuf_cpp_version", internal::kProtoCppVersionString);
+             "protobuf_cpp_version", PROTOBUF_CPP_VERSION_STRING);
   }
   p->Print("\n");
   p->Emit({{"cb", cb}, {"guard", guard}}, R"(
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/java/file.cc b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/java/file.cc
index b86bb58f43..f116c1781c 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/java/file.cc
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/java/file.cc
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ void FileGenerator::Generate(io::Printer* printer) {
       "filename", file_->name());
   if (options_.opensource_runtime) {
     printer->Print("// Protobuf Java Version: $protobuf_java_version$\n",
-                   "protobuf_java_version", internal::kProtoJavaVersionString);
+                   "protobuf_java_version", PROTOBUF_JAVA_VERSION_STRING);
   }
   if (!java_package_.empty()) {
     printer->Print(
@@ -608,7 +608,7 @@ static void GenerateSibling(
       "\n",
       "filename", descriptor->file()->name());
   printer.Print("// Protobuf Java Version: $protobuf_java_version$\n",
-                "protobuf_java_version", internal::kProtoJavaVersionString);
+                "protobuf_java_version", PROTOBUF_JAVA_VERSION_STRING);
   if (!java_package.empty()) {
     printer.Print(
         "package $package$;\n"
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/plugin.pb.h b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/plugin.pb.h
index 81b3706012..00736191c6 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/plugin.pb.h
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/plugin.pb.h
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Generated by the protocol buffer compiler.  DO NOT EDIT!
 // source: google/protobuf/compiler/plugin.proto
-// Protobuf C++ Version: 4.25-main
+// Protobuf C++ Version: 4.24.0-main
 
 #ifndef GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_INCLUDED_google_2fprotobuf_2fcompiler_2fplugin_2eproto_2epb_2eh
 #define GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_INCLUDED_google_2fprotobuf_2fcompiler_2fplugin_2eproto_2epb_2eh
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/python/generator.cc b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/python/generator.cc
index cbc6c5b5bd..f3cce736d6 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/python/generator.cc
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/python/generator.cc
@@ -341,8 +341,7 @@ void Generator::PrintTopBoilerplate() const {
       "filename", file_->name());
   if (opensource_runtime_) {
     printer_->Print("# Protobuf Python Version: $protobuf_python_version$\n",
-                    "protobuf_python_version",
-                    internal::kProtoPythonVersionString);
+                    "protobuf_python_version", PROTOBUF_PYTHON_VERSION_STRING);
   }
   printer_->Print("\"\"\"Generated protocol buffer code.\"\"\"\n");
   if (!opensource_runtime_) {
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/versions.h b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/versions.h
index 31f1d45e73..615944f8be 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/versions.h
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/versions.h
@@ -31,22 +31,10 @@
 #ifndef GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_VERSIONS_H__
 #define GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_VERSIONS_H__
 
-#include "absl/strings/string_view.h"
+#include "google/protobuf/compiler/versions_suffix.h"
 
-namespace google {
-namespace protobuf {
-namespace compiler {
-namespace internal {
 // Defines compiler version strings for Protobuf code generators.
 //
-// Note that the version suffix "-main" implies the main branch. For example,
-// 4.25-main reflects a main branch version under development towards 25.x
-// release, and thus should not be used for production.
-//
-// Unlike other repo versions, this file should be updated together with
-// version.json whenever possible and reflect the correct version numbers
-// correspondingly.
-//
 // Currently, they are embedded into comments at each gencode for public
 // Protobuf C++, Java and Python. Further, we will add version strings for rest
 // of languages in version.json, and they will be used to validate version
@@ -58,11 +46,8 @@ namespace internal {
 //
 // Please avoid changing them manually, as they should be updated automatically
 // by Protobuf release process.
-constexpr absl::string_view kProtoCppVersionString = "4.25-main";
-constexpr absl::string_view kProtoJavaVersionString = "3.25-main";
-constexpr absl::string_view kProtoPythonVersionString = "4.25-main";
-}  // namespace internal
-}  // namespace compiler
-}  // namespace protobuf
-}  // namespace google
+#define PROTOBUF_CPP_VERSION_STRING "4.24.0" PROTOBUF_GENCODE_VERSION_SUFFIX
+#define PROTOBUF_JAVA_VERSION_STRING "3.24.0" PROTOBUF_GENCODE_VERSION_SUFFIX
+#define PROTOBUF_PYTHON_VERSION_STRING "4.24.0" PROTOBUF_GENCODE_VERSION_SUFFIX
+
 #endif  // GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_VERSIONS_H__
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/versions_suffix.h b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/versions_suffix.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5fd30faf0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/versions_suffix.h
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
+// Copyright 2008 Google Inc.  All rights reserved.
+//
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file or at
+// https://developers.google.com/open-source/licenses/bsd
+
+#ifndef GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_COMPILER_VERSIONS_SUFFIX_H__
+#define GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_COMPILER_VERSIONS_SUFFIX_H__
+
+// Defines compiler version suffix for Protobuf code generators.
+//
+// It is defined separately from the language-specific version strings that are
+// in versions.h to prevent it from being overwritten when merging Protobuf
+// release branches back to main, as the suffix "-main" should stay in the
+// Protobuf github main branch.
+//
+// Note that the version suffix "-main" implies the main branch. For example,
+// 4.25-main reflects a main branch version under development towards 25.x
+// release, and thus should not be used for production.
+//
+// Please avoid changing it manually, as they should be updated automatically by
+// the Protobuf release process.
+#define PROTOBUF_GENCODE_VERSION_SUFFIX "-main"
+
+#endif  // GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_COMPILER_VERSIONS_SUFFIX_H__
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/cpp_features.pb.h b/src/google/protobuf/cpp_features.pb.h
index e49a5d6577..2d409211d3 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/cpp_features.pb.h
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/cpp_features.pb.h
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Generated by the protocol buffer compiler.  DO NOT EDIT!
 // source: google/protobuf/cpp_features.proto
-// Protobuf C++ Version: 4.25-main
+// Protobuf C++ Version: 4.24.0-main
 
 #ifndef GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_INCLUDED_google_2fprotobuf_2fcpp_5ffeatures_2eproto_2epb_2eh
 #define GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_INCLUDED_google_2fprotobuf_2fcpp_5ffeatures_2eproto_2epb_2eh
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/descriptor.pb.h b/src/google/protobuf/descriptor.pb.h
index 63a8dd00f0..3f4c38a042 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/descriptor.pb.h
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/descriptor.pb.h
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Generated by the protocol buffer compiler.  DO NOT EDIT!
 // source: google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
-// Protobuf C++ Version: 4.25-main
+// Protobuf C++ Version: 4.24.0-main
 
 #ifndef GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_INCLUDED_google_2fprotobuf_2fdescriptor_2eproto_2epb_2eh
 #define GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_INCLUDED_google_2fprotobuf_2fdescriptor_2eproto_2epb_2eh