diff --git a/java/droiddoc.go b/java/droiddoc.go
index 2929bb8..a7e92d9 100644
--- a/java/droiddoc.go
+++ b/java/droiddoc.go
@@ -373,8 +373,11 @@
 				panic(fmt.Errorf("unknown dependency %q for %q", otherName, ctx.ModuleName()))
 			}
 		case libTag, sdkLibTag:
-			if dep, ok := module.(SdkLibraryDependency); ok {
-				deps.classpath = append(deps.classpath, dep.SdkHeaderJars(ctx, j.SdkVersion(ctx))...)
+			if _, ok := module.(SdkLibraryDependency); ok {
+				sdkInfo, _ := android.OtherModuleProvider(ctx, module, SdkLibraryInfoProvider)
+				generatingLibsString := android.PrettyConcat(
+					getGeneratingLibs(ctx, j.SdkVersion(ctx), module.Name(), sdkInfo), true, "or")
+				ctx.ModuleErrorf("cannot depend directly on java_sdk_library %q; try depending on %s instead", module.Name(), generatingLibsString)
 			} else if dep, ok := android.OtherModuleProvider(ctx, module, JavaInfoProvider); ok {
 				deps.classpath = append(deps.classpath, dep.HeaderJars...)
 				deps.aidlIncludeDirs = append(deps.aidlIncludeDirs, dep.AidlIncludeDirs...)