diff --git a/java/bootclasspath_fragment.go b/java/bootclasspath_fragment.go
index d5296e2..4d35b9f 100644
--- a/java/bootclasspath_fragment.go
+++ b/java/bootclasspath_fragment.go
@@ -89,6 +89,19 @@
 // The tag used for the dependency between the bootclasspath_fragment module and its contents.
 var bootclasspathFragmentContentDepTag = bootclasspathFragmentContentDependencyTag{}
 
+type moduleInFragmentDependencyTag struct {
+	blueprint.DependencyTag
+}
+
+func (m moduleInFragmentDependencyTag) ExcludeFromVisibilityEnforcement() {
+}
+
+// moduleInFragmentDepTag is added alongside bootclasspathFragmentContentDependencyTag,
+// but doesn't set ReplaceSourceWithPrebuilt.  It is used to find modules in the fragment
+// by traversing from the apex to the fragment to the module, which prevents having to
+// construct a dependency on the apex variant of the fragment directly.
+var moduleInFragmentDepTag = moduleInFragmentDependencyTag{}
+
 var _ android.ExcludeFromVisibilityEnforcementTag = bootclasspathFragmentContentDepTag
 var _ android.ReplaceSourceWithPrebuilt = bootclasspathFragmentContentDepTag
 var _ android.SdkMemberDependencyTag = bootclasspathFragmentContentDepTag
@@ -415,6 +428,9 @@
 	if bcpTag, ok := tag.(bootclasspathDependencyTag); ok && bcpTag.typ == fragment {
 		return false
 	}
+	if tag == moduleInFragmentDepTag {
+		return false
+	}
 	panic(fmt.Errorf("boot_image module %q should not have a dependency tag %s", b, android.PrettyPrintTag(tag)))
 }
 
@@ -471,6 +487,10 @@
 
 	// Add dependencies on all the fragments.
 	b.properties.BootclasspathFragmentsDepsProperties.addDependenciesOntoFragments(ctx)
+
+	for _, name := range b.properties.Contents.GetOrDefault(ctx, nil) {
+		ctx.AddDependency(ctx.Module(), moduleInFragmentDepTag, name)
+	}
 }
 
 func (b *BootclasspathFragmentModule) GenerateAndroidBuildActions(ctx android.ModuleContext) {
diff --git a/java/sdk_library_test.go b/java/sdk_library_test.go
index 0aed4b8..0d872f0 100644
--- a/java/sdk_library_test.go
+++ b/java/sdk_library_test.go
@@ -993,8 +993,6 @@
 	CheckModuleDependencies(t, result.TestContext, "combined", "android_common", []string{
 		// Each use of :sdklib{...} adds a dependency onto prebuilt_sdklib.
 		`prebuilt_sdklib`,
-		`prebuilt_sdklib`,
-		`prebuilt_sdklib`,
 		`prebuilt_sdklib.stubs`,
 		`prebuilt_sdklib.stubs.source`,
 	})
diff --git a/java/testing.go b/java/testing.go
index 378e2dd..5ee659c 100644
--- a/java/testing.go
+++ b/java/testing.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 	"fmt"
 	"reflect"
 	"regexp"
-	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -611,14 +610,13 @@
 	ctx.VisitDirectDeps(module, func(m blueprint.Module) {
 		deps = append(deps, m.Name())
 	})
-	sort.Strings(deps)
-
-	return deps
+	return android.SortedUniqueStrings(deps)
 }
 
 // CheckModuleDependencies checks if the expected dependencies of the module are
 // identical to the actual dependencies.
 func CheckModuleDependencies(t *testing.T, ctx *android.TestContext, name, variant string, expected []string) {
+	t.Helper()
 	deps := getModuleDependencies(t, ctx, name, variant)
 
 	if actual := deps; !reflect.DeepEqual(expected, actual) {