diff --git a/java/protoc/README.md b/java/protoc/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a31ffbe822
--- /dev/null
+++ b/java/protoc/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Publish pre-compiled protoc artifacts
+``protoc`` is the compiler for ``.proto`` files. It generates language bindings
+for the messages and/or RPC services from ``.proto`` files.
+
+Because ``protoc`` is a native executable, the scripts under this directory
+publish a ``protoc`` executable (a.k.a. artifact) to Maven repositories. The
+artifact can be used by build automation tools so that users would not need to
+compile and install ``protoc`` for their systems.
+
+If you would like us to publish protoc artifact for a new platform, please
+open an issue to request it.
+
+## Maven Location
+The published protoc artifacts are available on Maven here:
+
+    https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/com/google/protobuf/protoc/
+
+## Versioning
+The version of the ``protoc`` artifact must be the same as the version of the
+Protobuf project.
+
+## Artifact name
+The name of a published ``protoc`` artifact is in the following format:
+``protoc-<version>-<os>-<arch>.exe``, e.g., ``protoc-3.6.1-linux-x86_64.exe``.
+
+Note that artifacts for linux/macos also have the `.exe` suffix but they are
+not windows binaries.
+
+## System requirement
+Install [Apache Maven](http://maven.apache.org/) if you don't have it.
+
+The scripts only work under Unix-like environments, e.g., Linux, MacOSX, and
+Cygwin or MinGW for Windows. Please see ``README.md`` of the Protobuf project
+for how to set up the build environment.
+
+## Tested build environments
+We have successfully built artifacts on the following environments:
+- Linux x86_32 and x86_64:
+  - Centos 6.9 (within Docker 1.6.1)
+  - Ubuntu 14.04.5 64-bit
+- Linux aarch_64: Cross compiled with `g++-aarch64-linux-gnu` on Ubuntu 14.04.5 64-bit
+- Mac OS X x86_32 and x86_64: Mac OS X 10.9.5
diff --git a/java/protoc/pom.xml b/java/protoc/pom.xml
index b2cd0d5519..9b61b9826a 100644
--- a/java/protoc/pom.xml
+++ b/java/protoc/pom.xml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
   </parent>
   <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
   <artifactId>protoc</artifactId>
-  <version>3.21.3</version>
+  <version>3.21.6</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
   <name>Protobuf Compiler</name>
   <description>
diff --git a/kokoro/release/collect_all_artifacts.sh b/kokoro/release/collect_all_artifacts.sh
index 6e0d152408..20c6d8d785 100755
--- a/kokoro/release/collect_all_artifacts.sh
+++ b/kokoro/release/collect_all_artifacts.sh
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ mkdir -p protoc/linux_x86
 mkdir -p protoc/linux_x64
 # Because of maven unrelated reasonse the linux protoc binaries have a dummy .exe extension.
 # For the Google.Protobuf.Tools nuget, we don't want that exception, so we just remove it.
-cp ${INPUT_ARTIFACTS_DIR}/protoc-artifacts/target/linux/x86_32/protoc.exe protoc/linux_x86/protoc
-cp ${INPUT_ARTIFACTS_DIR}/protoc-artifacts/target/linux/x86_64/protoc.exe protoc/linux_x64/protoc
+cp ${INPUT_ARTIFACTS_DIR}/kokoro/release/protoc/target/linux/x86_32/protoc.exe protoc/linux_x86/protoc
+cp ${INPUT_ARTIFACTS_DIR}/kokoro/release/protoc/target/linux/x86_64/protoc.exe protoc/linux_x64/protoc
 
 mkdir -p protoc/macosx_x64
 cp ${INPUT_ARTIFACTS_DIR}/build64/src/protoc protoc/macosx_x64/protoc
diff --git a/protoc-artifacts/build-protoc.sh b/kokoro/release/protoc/build-protoc.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from protoc-artifacts/build-protoc.sh
rename to kokoro/release/protoc/build-protoc.sh
diff --git a/kokoro/release/protoc/linux/build.sh b/kokoro/release/protoc/linux/build.sh
index ca3ff2124a..a9d58b7c75 100755
--- a/kokoro/release/protoc/linux/build.sh
+++ b/kokoro/release/protoc/linux/build.sh
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@ git submodule update --init --recursive
 # directories afterward.
 
 
-protoc-artifacts/build-protoc.sh linux aarch_64 protoc
+kokoro/release/protoc/build-protoc.sh linux aarch_64 protoc
 
-protoc-artifacts/build-protoc.sh linux ppcle_64 protoc
+kokoro/release/protoc/build-protoc.sh linux ppcle_64 protoc
 
-protoc-artifacts/build-protoc.sh linux s390_64 protoc
+kokoro/release/protoc/build-protoc.sh linux s390_64 protoc
 
-protoc-artifacts/build-protoc.sh linux x86_64 protoc
+kokoro/release/protoc/build-protoc.sh linux x86_64 protoc
 
-protoc-artifacts/build-protoc.sh linux x86_32 protoc
+kokoro/release/protoc/build-protoc.sh linux x86_32 protoc
diff --git a/protoc-artifacts/README.md b/protoc-artifacts/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 5511f9aedf..0000000000
--- a/protoc-artifacts/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,161 +0,0 @@
-# Build scripts that publish pre-compiled protoc artifacts
-``protoc`` is the compiler for ``.proto`` files. It generates language bindings
-for the messages and/or RPC services from ``.proto`` files.
-
-Because ``protoc`` is a native executable, the scripts under this directory
-build and publish a ``protoc`` executable (a.k.a. artifact) to Maven
-repositories. The artifact can be used by build automation tools so that users
-would not need to compile and install ``protoc`` for their systems.
-
-If you would like us to publish protoc artifact for a new platform, please send
-us a pull request to add support for the new platform. You would need to change
-the following files:
-
-* [build-protoc.sh](build-protoc.sh): script to cross-build the protoc for your
-  platform.
-* [pom.xml](pom.xml): script to upload artifacts to maven.
-* [build-zip.sh](build-zip.sh): script to package published maven artifacts in
-  our release page.
-
-## Maven Location
-The published protoc artifacts are available on Maven here:
-
-    https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/com/google/protobuf/protoc/
-
-## Versioning
-The version of the ``protoc`` artifact must be the same as the version of the
-Protobuf project.
-
-## Artifact name
-The name of a published ``protoc`` artifact is in the following format:
-``protoc-<version>-<os>-<arch>.exe``, e.g., ``protoc-3.6.1-linux-x86_64.exe``.
-
-Note that artifacts for linux/macos also have the `.exe` suffix but they are
-not windows binaries.
-
-## System requirement
-Install [Apache Maven](http://maven.apache.org/) if you don't have it.
-
-The scripts only work under Unix-like environments, e.g., Linux, MacOSX, and
-Cygwin or MinGW for Windows. Please see ``README.md`` of the Protobuf project
-for how to set up the build environment.
-
-## Building from a freshly checked-out source
-
-If you just checked out the Protobuf source from github, you need to
-pull in any submodules.
-
-Under the protobuf project directory:
-
-
-```
-git submodule update --init --recursive
-```
-
-### Build the artifact for each platform
-
-Run the build-protoc.sh script under this protoc-artifacts directory to build the protoc
-artifact for each platform.  For example:
-
-```
-$ cd protoc-artifacts
-$ ./build-protoc.sh linux x86_64 protoc
-```
-
-The above command will produce a `target/linux/x86_64/protoc` binary under the
-protoc-artifacts directory.
-
-For a list of supported platforms, see the comments in the build-protoc.sh
-script. We only use this script to build artifacts on Ubuntu and MacOS (both
-with x86_64, and do cross-compilation for other platforms.
-
-### Tips for building for Linux
-We build on Centos 6.9 to provide a good compatibility for not very new
-systems. We have provided a ``Dockerfile`` under this directory to build the
-environment. It has been tested with Docker 1.6.1.
-
-To build a image:
-
-```
-$ docker build -t protoc-artifacts .
-```
-
-To run the image:
-
-```
-$ docker run -it --rm=true protoc-artifacts bash
-```
-
-To checkout protobuf (run within the container):
-
-```
-$ # Replace v3.5.1 with the version you want
-$ wget -O - https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/v3.5.1.tar.gz | tar xvzp
-```
-
-### Windows build
-We no longer use scripts in this directory to build windows artifacts. Instead,
-we use Visual Studio 2015 to build our windows release artifacts. See our
-[kokoro windows build scripts here](../kokoro/release/protoc/windows/build.bat).
-
-To upload windows artifacts, copy the built binaries into this directory and
-put it into the target/windows/(x86_64|x86_32) directory the same way as the
-artifacts for other platforms. That will allow the maven script to find and
-upload the artifacts to maven.
-
-## To push artifacts to Maven Central
-Before you can upload artifacts to Maven Central repository, make sure you have
-read [this page](http://central.sonatype.org/pages/apache-maven.html) on how to
-configure GPG and Sonatype account.
-
-Before you do the deployment, make sure you have built the protoc artifacts for
-every supported platform and put them under the target directory. Example
-target directory layout:
-
-    + pom.xml
-    + target
-      + linux
-        + x86_64
-          protoc.exe
-        + x86_32
-          protoc.exe
-        + aarch_64
-          protoc.exe
-        + ppcle_64
-          protoc.exe
-        + s390_64
-          protoc.exe
-      + osx
-        + x86_64
-          protoc.exe
-        + x86_32
-          protoc.exe
-      + windows
-        + x86_64
-          protoc.exe
-        + x86_32
-          protoc.exe
-
-You will need to build the artifacts on multiple machines and gather them
-together into one place.
-
-Use the following command to deploy artifacts for the host platform to a
-staging repository.
-
-```
-$ mvn deploy -P release
-```
-
-It creates a new staging repository. Go to
-https://oss.sonatype.org/#stagingRepositories and find the repository, usually
-in the name like ``comgoogle-123``. Verify that the staging repository has all
-the binaries, close and release this repository.
-
-
-## Tested build environments
-We have successfully built artifacts on the following environments:
-- Linux x86_32 and x86_64:
-  - Centos 6.9 (within Docker 1.6.1)
-  - Ubuntu 14.04.5 64-bit
-- Linux aarch_64: Cross compiled with `g++-aarch64-linux-gnu` on Ubuntu 14.04.5 64-bit
-- Mac OS X x86_32 and x86_64: Mac OS X 10.9.5
diff --git a/protoc-artifacts/build-zip.sh b/protoc-artifacts/build-zip.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1d977259f3..0000000000
--- a/protoc-artifacts/build-zip.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,120 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then
-  cat <<EOF
-Usage: $0 <TARGET> <VERSION_NUMBER>
-
-TARGET: protoc | protoc-gen-javalite
-
-Example:
-  $ $0 protoc 3.0.0
-  $ $0 protoc-gen-javalite 3.0.0
-
-This script will download pre-built protoc or protoc plugin binaries from maven
-repository and create .zip packages suitable to be included in the github
-release page. If the target is protoc, well-known type .proto files will also be
-included. Each invocation will create 8 zip packages:
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-win32.zip
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-win64.zip
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-osx-aarch_64.zip
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-osx-x86_64.zip
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-linux-x86_32.zip
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-linux-x86_64.zip
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-linux-aarch_64.zip
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-linux-ppcle_64.zip
-  dist/<TARGET>-<VERSION_NUMBER>-linux-s390_64.zip
-EOF
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-TARGET=$1
-VERSION_NUMBER=$2
-
-# <zip file name> <binary file name> pairs.
-declare -a FILE_NAMES=( \
-  win32.zip windows-x86_32.exe \
-  win64.zip windows-x86_64.exe \
-  osx-aarch_64.zip osx-aarch_64.exe \
-  osx-x86_64.zip osx-x86_64.exe \
-  linux-x86_32.zip linux-x86_32.exe \
-  linux-x86_64.zip linux-x86_64.exe \
-  linux-aarch_64.zip linux-aarch_64.exe \
-  linux-ppcle_64.zip linux-ppcle_64.exe \
-  linux-s390_64.zip linux-s390_64.exe \
-)
-
-# List of all well-known types to be included.
-declare -a WELL_KNOWN_TYPES=(           \
-  google/protobuf/descriptor.proto      \
-  google/protobuf/any.proto             \
-  google/protobuf/api.proto             \
-  google/protobuf/duration.proto        \
-  google/protobuf/empty.proto           \
-  google/protobuf/field_mask.proto      \
-  google/protobuf/source_context.proto  \
-  google/protobuf/struct.proto          \
-  google/protobuf/timestamp.proto       \
-  google/protobuf/type.proto            \
-  google/protobuf/wrappers.proto        \
-  google/protobuf/compiler/plugin.proto \
-)
-
-set -e
-
-# A temporary working directory to put all files.
-DIR=$(mktemp -d)
-
-# Copy over well-known types.
-mkdir -p ${DIR}/include/google/protobuf/compiler
-for PROTO in ${WELL_KNOWN_TYPES[@]}; do
-  cp -f ../src/${PROTO} ${DIR}/include/${PROTO}
-done
-
-# Create a readme file.
-cat <<EOF > ${DIR}/readme.txt
-Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
-Copyright 2008 Google Inc.
-https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/
-
-This package contains a precompiled binary version of the protocol buffer
-compiler (protoc). This binary is intended for users who want to use Protocol
-Buffers in languages other than C++ but do not want to compile protoc
-themselves. To install, simply place this binary somewhere in your PATH.
-
-If you intend to use the included well known types then don't forget to
-copy the contents of the 'include' directory somewhere as well, for example
-into '/usr/local/include/'.
-
-Please refer to our official github site for more installation instructions:
-  https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf
-EOF
-
-mkdir -p dist
-mkdir -p ${DIR}/bin
-# Create a zip file for each binary.
-for((i=0;i<${#FILE_NAMES[@]};i+=2));do
-  ZIP_NAME=${FILE_NAMES[$i]}
-  if [ ${ZIP_NAME:0:3} = "win" ]; then
-    BINARY="$TARGET.exe"
-  else
-    BINARY="$TARGET"
-  fi
-  BINARY_NAME=${FILE_NAMES[$(($i+1))]}
-  BINARY_URL=https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/google/protobuf/$TARGET/${VERSION_NUMBER}/$TARGET-${VERSION_NUMBER}-${BINARY_NAME}
-  if ! wget ${BINARY_URL} -O ${DIR}/bin/$BINARY &> /dev/null; then
-    echo "[ERROR] Failed to download ${BINARY_URL}" >&2
-    echo "[ERROR] Skipped $TARGET-${VERSION_NAME}-${ZIP_NAME}" >&2
-    continue
-  fi
-  TARGET_ZIP_FILE=`pwd`/dist/$TARGET-${VERSION_NUMBER}-${ZIP_NAME}
-  pushd $DIR &> /dev/null
-  chmod +x bin/$BINARY
-  if [ "$TARGET" = "protoc" ]; then
-    zip -r ${TARGET_ZIP_FILE} include bin readme.txt &> /dev/null
-  else
-    zip -r ${TARGET_ZIP_FILE} bin &> /dev/null
-  fi
-  rm  bin/$BINARY
-  popd &> /dev/null
-  echo "[INFO] Successfully created ${TARGET_ZIP_FILE}"
-done
diff --git a/protoc-artifacts/pom.xml b/protoc-artifacts/pom.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 19e700d4d3..0000000000
--- a/protoc-artifacts/pom.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,144 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
-  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
-  <parent>
-    <groupId>com.google</groupId>
-    <artifactId>google</artifactId>
-    <version>5</version>
-  </parent>
-  <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
-  <artifactId>protoc</artifactId>
-  <version>3.21.6</version>
-  <packaging>pom</packaging>
-  <name>Protobuf Compiler</name>
-  <description>
-    Protobuf Compiler (protoc) is a compiler for .proto files. It generates
-    language-specific code for Protobuf messages and RPC interfaces.
-  </description>
-  <inceptionYear>2008</inceptionYear>
-  <url>https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/</url>
-  <licenses>
-    <license>
-      <name>BSD-3-Clause</name>
-      <url>https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause</url>
-      <distribution>repo</distribution>
-    </license>
-  </licenses>
-  <scm>
-    <url>https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf</url>
-    <connection>
-      scm:git:https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf.git
-    </connection>
-  </scm>
-  <build>
-    <plugins>
-      <plugin>
-        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
-        <artifactId>build-helper-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>1.8</version>
-        <executions>
-          <execution>
-            <id>attach-artifacts</id>
-            <phase>package</phase>
-            <goals>
-              <goal>attach-artifact</goal>
-            </goals>
-            <configuration>
-              <artifacts>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/linux/x86_64/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>linux-x86_64</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-                </artifact>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/linux/x86_32/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>linux-x86_32</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-                </artifact>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/windows/x86_64/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>windows-x86_64</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-                </artifact>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/windows/x86_32/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>windows-x86_32</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-                </artifact>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/osx/x86_64/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>osx-x86_64</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-                </artifact>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/osx/aarch_64/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>osx-aarch_64</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-                </artifact>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/linux/aarch_64/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>linux-aarch_64</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-                </artifact>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/linux/ppcle_64/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>linux-ppcle_64</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-	  	</artifact>
-                <artifact>
-                  <file>${basedir}/target/linux/s390_64/protoc.exe</file>
-                  <classifier>linux-s390_64</classifier>
-                  <type>exe</type>
-                </artifact>
-              </artifacts>
-            </configuration>
-          </execution>
-        </executions>
-      </plugin>
-    </plugins>
-  </build>
-  <profiles>
-    <profile>
-      <id>release</id>
-      <properties>
-        <!-- Specify the staging repository to deploy to. This can be left
-             empty for the first deployment, and Sonatype will create one. For
-             subsequent deployments it should be set to what Sonatype has
-             created, so that all deployments will go to the same repository.
-             -->
-        <staging.repository/>
-      </properties>
-      <build>
-        <plugins>
-          <plugin>
-            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-            <artifactId>maven-gpg-plugin</artifactId>
-            <version>1.5</version>
-            <executions>
-              <execution>
-                <id>sign-artifacts</id>
-                <phase>verify</phase>
-                <goals>
-                  <goal>sign</goal>
-                </goals>
-              </execution>
-            </executions>
-          </plugin>
-          <plugin>
-            <groupId>org.sonatype.plugins</groupId>
-            <artifactId>nexus-staging-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-            <version>1.6.3</version>
-            <extensions>true</extensions>
-            <configuration>
-               <serverId>sonatype-nexus-staging</serverId>
-               <nexusUrl>https://oss.sonatype.org/</nexusUrl>
-               <skipStagingRepositoryClose>true</skipStagingRepositoryClose>
-               <autoReleaseAfterClose>false</autoReleaseAfterClose>
-               <stagingRepositoryId>${staging.repository}</stagingRepositoryId>
-            </configuration>
-          </plugin>
-        </plugins>
-      </build>
-    </profile>
-  </profiles>
-</project>
diff --git a/protoc-artifacts/scl-enable-devtoolset.sh b/protoc-artifacts/scl-enable-devtoolset.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 30895585f3..0000000000
--- a/protoc-artifacts/scl-enable-devtoolset.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -eu -o pipefail
-
-quote() {
-  local arg
-  for arg in "$@"; do
-    printf "'"
-    printf "%s" "$arg" | sed -e "s/'/'\\\\''/g"
-    printf "' "
-  done
-}
-
-exec scl enable devtoolset-2 "$(quote "$@")"