diff --git a/.bazelignore b/.bazelignore
index 69fa449dd9..dc5c301299 100644
--- a/.bazelignore
+++ b/.bazelignore
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
+# These are fetched as external repositories.
+third_party/abseil-cpp
+third_party/googletest
 _build/
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index e69de29bb2..495082fb47 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+[submodule "third_party/googletest"]
+	path = third_party/googletest
+	url = https://github.com/google/googletest.git
+	ignore = dirty
+[submodule "third_party/abseil-cpp"]
+	path = third_party/abseil-cpp
+	url = https://github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp.git
+	branch = lts_2023_08_02
+[submodule "third_party/jsoncpp"]
+	path = third_party/jsoncpp
+	url = https://github.com/open-source-parsers/jsoncpp.git
diff --git a/java/core/src/main/java/com/google/protobuf/GeneratedMessageLite.java b/java/core/src/main/java/com/google/protobuf/GeneratedMessageLite.java
index 4b0d0bdde3..d77d066567 100644
--- a/java/core/src/main/java/com/google/protobuf/GeneratedMessageLite.java
+++ b/java/core/src/main/java/com/google/protobuf/GeneratedMessageLite.java
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ public abstract class GeneratedMessageLite<
    *
    * <p>For use by generated code only.
    */
-  protected static enum MethodToInvoke {
+  public static enum MethodToInvoke {
     // Rely on/modify instance state
     GET_MEMOIZED_IS_INITIALIZED,
     SET_MEMOIZED_IS_INITIALIZED,