Convert flatbuffers_version_string to inline function (#7046)

* Skip conditional for python executable

* replaced flatbuffers_version_string with inline function

* use const char* instead of string

4 files changed, 6 insertions, 38 deletions

diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b4a489f2..c0c9102e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -534,11 +534,7 @@ if(PYTHONINTERP_FOUND AND
   # Skip doing this if the MSVC version is below VS 12.
   # https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/variable/MSVC_VERSION.html
   (NOT MSVC OR MSVC_VERSION GREATER 1800))
-  if(MSVC)
-    set(GENERATION_SCRIPT ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} scripts/generate_code.py) 
-   else()
-    set(GENERATION_SCRIPT scripts/generate_code.py)
-  endif()
+  set(GENERATION_SCRIPT ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} scripts/generate_code.py) 
   if(FLATBUFFERS_BUILD_LEGACY)
     # Need to set --cpp-std c++-0x options
     set(GENERATION_SCRIPT ${GENERATION_SCRIPT} --cpp-0x)
diff --git a/docs/source/Building.md b/docs/source/Building.md
index cc69f484..d7e9ca3c 100644
--- a/docs/source/Building.md
+++ b/docs/source/Building.md
@@ -121,14 +121,3 @@ add this directive:
 set(FLATBUFFERS_MAX_PARSING_DEPTH 16)
 ```
 to `CMakeLists.txt` file before `add_subdirectory(${FLATBUFFERS_SRC_DIR})` line.
-
-#### For Google Play apps
-
-For applications on Google Play that integrate this library, usage is tracked.
-This tracking is done automatically using the embedded version string
-(flatbuffer_version_string), and helps us continue to optimize it.
-Aside from consuming a few extra bytes in your application binary, it shouldn't
-affect your application at all. We use this information to let us know if
-FlatBuffers is useful and if we should continue to invest in it. Since this is
-open source, you are free to remove the version string but we would appreciate
-if you would leave it in.
diff --git a/grpc/src/compiler/java_generator.cc b/grpc/src/compiler/java_generator.cc
index d2cf5ccc..28352f09 100644
--- a/grpc/src/compiler/java_generator.cc
+++ b/grpc/src/compiler/java_generator.cc
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@
 #include <utility>
 #include <vector>
 
-// just to get flatbuffer_version_string()
-#include <flatbuffers/flatbuffers.h>
 #include <flatbuffers/util.h>
 #define to_string flatbuffers::NumToString
 
diff --git a/include/flatbuffers/flatbuffers.h b/include/flatbuffers/flatbuffers.h
index c903d646..43681ddd 100644
--- a/include/flatbuffers/flatbuffers.h
+++ b/include/flatbuffers/flatbuffers.h
@@ -226,26 +226,11 @@ struct TypeTable {
 };
 
 // String which identifies the current version of FlatBuffers.
-// flatbuffer_version_string is used by Google developers to identify which
-// applications uploaded to Google Play are using this library.  This allows
-// the development team at Google to determine the popularity of the library.
-// How it works: Applications that are uploaded to the Google Play Store are
-// scanned for this version string.  We track which applications are using it
-// to measure popularity.  You are free to remove it (of course) but we would
-// appreciate if you left it in.
-
-// Weak linkage is culled by VS & doesn't work on cygwin.
-// clang-format off
-#if !defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__CYGWIN__)
-
-extern volatile __attribute__((weak)) const char *flatbuffer_version_string;
-volatile __attribute__((weak)) const char *flatbuffer_version_string =
-  "FlatBuffers "
-  FLATBUFFERS_STRING(FLATBUFFERS_VERSION_MAJOR) "."
-  FLATBUFFERS_STRING(FLATBUFFERS_VERSION_MINOR) "."
-  FLATBUFFERS_STRING(FLATBUFFERS_VERSION_REVISION);
-
-#endif  // !defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__CYGWIN__)
+inline const char * flatbuffers_version_string() {
+  return "FlatBuffers " FLATBUFFERS_STRING(FLATBUFFERS_VERSION_MAJOR) "."
+      FLATBUFFERS_STRING(FLATBUFFERS_VERSION_MINOR) "."
+      FLATBUFFERS_STRING(FLATBUFFERS_VERSION_REVISION);
+}
 
 #define FLATBUFFERS_DEFINE_BITMASK_OPERATORS(E, T)\
     inline E operator | (E lhs, E rhs){\