diff --git a/java/sdk.go b/java/sdk.go
index 3451774..c6a9a73 100644
--- a/java/sdk.go
+++ b/java/sdk.go
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@
 type sdkContext interface {
 	// sdkVersion returns the sdk_version property of the current module, or an empty string if it is not set.
 	sdkVersion() string
+	// systemModules returns the system_modules property of the current module, or an empty string if it is not set.
+	systemModules() string
 	// minSdkVersion returns the min_sdk_version property of the current module, or sdkVersion() if it is not set.
 	minSdkVersion() string
 	// targetSdkVersion returns the target_sdk_version property of the current module, or sdkVersion() if it is not set.
@@ -185,8 +187,18 @@
 			frameworkResModule: "framework-res",
 		}
 	case "none":
+		systemModules := sdkContext.systemModules()
+		if systemModules == "" {
+			ctx.PropertyErrorf("sdk_version",
+				`system_modules is required to be set to a non-empty value when sdk_version is "none", did you mean sdk_version: "core_platform"?`)
+		} else if systemModules == "none" {
+			// Normalize no system modules to an empty string.
+			systemModules = ""
+		}
+
 		return sdkDep{
 			noStandardLibs: true,
+			systemModules:  systemModules,
 		}
 	case "core_platform":
 		return sdkDep{