The change in the agent-side sensor as well as in the in-process collector here are backwards compatible. I've tested that the old (< 1.6.4) discovery agent plug-in works with the updated in-process collector code and vice versa (new discovery plug-in 1.6.4 with old in-process collector code). Obviously I also tested the latest discovery version with the updated in-process collector code, that is, with this change.
Additional context: