diff --git a/java/base.go b/java/base.go
index b64eb5b..86ed0e7 100644
--- a/java/base.go
+++ b/java/base.go
@@ -2414,13 +2414,18 @@
 			return
 		}
 
-		if _, ok := module.(SdkLibraryDependency); ok {
+		if dep, ok := module.(SdkLibraryDependency); ok {
 			switch tag {
-			case sdkLibTag, libTag, staticLibTag:
-				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)
+			case sdkLibTag, libTag:
+				depHeaderJars := dep.SdkHeaderJars(ctx, j.SdkVersion(ctx))
+				deps.classpath = append(deps.classpath, depHeaderJars...)
+				deps.dexClasspath = append(deps.dexClasspath, depHeaderJars...)
+
+				// TODO: SDK libraries should export a provider with TransitiveClasspathHeaderJars
+				depHeaderJarsSet := android.NewDepSet(android.PREORDER, depHeaderJars, nil)
+				transitiveClasspathHeaderJars = append(transitiveClasspathHeaderJars, depHeaderJarsSet)
+			case staticLibTag:
+				ctx.ModuleErrorf("dependency on java_sdk_library %q can only be in libs", otherName)
 			}
 		} else if dep, ok := android.OtherModuleProvider(ctx, module, JavaInfoProvider); ok {
 			if sdkLinkType != javaPlatform {