diff --git a/mysql-connector-java-generated-for-protobuf-3.9.2.tar.xz b/mysql-connector-java-generated-for-protobuf-3.9.2.tar.xz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..19be258
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mysql-connector-java-generated-for-protobuf-3.9.2.tar.xz
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:78985b13a5a3783d07059493de8a8b324a0501914ca62c6e0ddb19a8f570c075
+size 113808
diff --git a/mysql-connector-java.changes b/mysql-connector-java.changes
index d54663f..ff5d706 100644
--- a/mysql-connector-java.changes
+++ b/mysql-connector-java.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fri Jan 27 16:38:41 UTC 2023 - David Anes <david.anes@suse.com>
+
+- Ship protobuf 3.9.2 compatible generated files to support 
+  older distro versions.
+  - Added file mysql-connector-java-generated-for-protobuf-3.9.2.tar.xz
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Thu Jan 26 17:12:29 UTC 2023 - David Anes <david.anes@suse.com>
 
diff --git a/mysql-connector-java.spec b/mysql-connector-java.spec
index 97d5887..5865977 100644
--- a/mysql-connector-java.spec
+++ b/mysql-connector-java.spec
@@ -25,6 +25,13 @@ Summary:        Official JDBC Driver for MySQL
 License:        GPL-2.0-or-later
 URL:            https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/
 Source0:        https://github.com/mysql/mysql-connector-j/archive/refs/tags/%{version}.tar.gz#:/%{name}-%{version}.tar.gz
+# NOTE:
+#   the following file contains the generated protobuf files with
+#   previous versions of protoc (protobuf) that are needed to build
+#   in previous SUSE distros.
+#   Source from:
+#   https://github.com/mysql/mysql-connector-j/commit/6976d9d779b498c254fc5cab5e69cfc74fc3e4f0
+Source1:        mysql-connector-java-generated-for-protobuf-3.9.2.tar.xz
 Group:          Development/Languages/Java
 Patch0:         javac-check.patch
 # NOTE: Oracle OCI is not packaged yet
@@ -70,6 +77,15 @@ set that supports the capabilities of MySQL.
 %patch0 -p1
 %patch1 -p1
 
+%if 0%{?suse_version} <= 1500 && 0%{?sle_version} <= 150200
+# ship protobuf generated files compatible with protobuf 3.9.2
+# which is the version we have in SLE15 SP2, the files were taken
+# from commit 6976d9d779b498c254fc5cab5e69cfc74fc3e4f0, which is
+# the last version compatible with that version of protobuf and
+# are equivalent in functionality
+tar -xvf %SOURCE1 -C .
+%endif
+
 # remove OCI support
 rm -rf src/main/protocol-impl/java/com/mysql/cj/protocol/a/authentication/AuthenticationOciClient.java