diff --git a/android/config.go b/android/config.go
index 7fbfa39..a32a1a6 100644
--- a/android/config.go
+++ b/android/config.go
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@
 }
 
 func (c Config) OutDir() string {
-	return c.soongOutDir
+	return c.outDir
 }
 
 func (c Config) RunGoTests() bool {
@@ -138,7 +138,8 @@
 
 	deviceConfig *deviceConfig
 
-	soongOutDir    string // the path of the build output directory
+	outDir         string // The output directory (usually out/)
+	soongOutDir    string
 	moduleListFile string // the path to the file which lists blueprint files to parse.
 
 	runGoTests               bool
@@ -302,9 +303,10 @@
 
 // NullConfig returns a mostly empty Config for use by standalone tools like dexpreopt_gen that
 // use the android package.
-func NullConfig(soongOutDir string) Config {
+func NullConfig(outDir, soongOutDir string) Config {
 	return Config{
 		config: &config{
+			outDir:      outDir,
 			soongOutDir: soongOutDir,
 			fs:          pathtools.OsFs,
 		},
@@ -338,6 +340,9 @@
 			ShippingApiLevel:                  stringPtr("30"),
 		},
 
+		outDir: buildDir,
+		// soongOutDir is inconsistent with production (it should be buildDir + "/soong")
+		// but a lot of tests assume this :(
 		soongOutDir:  buildDir,
 		captureBuild: true,
 		env:          envCopy,
@@ -434,6 +439,7 @@
 
 		env: availableEnv,
 
+		outDir:                   cmdlineArgs.OutDir,
 		soongOutDir:              soongOutDir,
 		runGoTests:               cmdlineArgs.RunGoTests,
 		useValidationsForGoTests: cmdlineArgs.UseValidations,
diff --git a/cmd/soong_build/main.go b/cmd/soong_build/main.go
index 7305a6d..3e724ee 100644
--- a/cmd/soong_build/main.go
+++ b/cmd/soong_build/main.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 
 var (
 	topDir           string
-	outDir           string
+	soongOutDir      string
 	availableEnvFile string
 	usedEnvFile      string
 
@@ -55,13 +55,12 @@
 func init() {
 	// Flags that make sense in every mode
 	flag.StringVar(&topDir, "top", "", "Top directory of the Android source tree")
-	flag.StringVar(&outDir, "out", "", "Soong output directory (usually $TOP/out/soong)")
+	flag.StringVar(&soongOutDir, "soong_out", "", "Soong output directory (usually $TOP/out/soong)")
 	flag.StringVar(&availableEnvFile, "available_env", "", "File containing available environment variables")
 	flag.StringVar(&usedEnvFile, "used_env", "", "File containing used environment variables")
 	flag.StringVar(&globFile, "globFile", "build-globs.ninja", "the Ninja file of globs to output")
 	flag.StringVar(&globListDir, "globListDir", "", "the directory containing the glob list files")
-	flag.StringVar(&cmdlineArgs.SoongOutDir, "b", ".", "the build output directory")
-	flag.StringVar(&cmdlineArgs.OutDir, "n", "", "the ninja builddir directory")
+	flag.StringVar(&cmdlineArgs.OutDir, "out", "", "the ninja builddir directory")
 	flag.StringVar(&cmdlineArgs.ModuleListFile, "l", "", "file that lists filepaths to parse")
 
 	// Debug flags
@@ -298,7 +297,7 @@
 
 	availableEnv := parseAvailableEnv()
 
-	configuration := newConfig(cmdlineArgs, outDir, availableEnv)
+	configuration := newConfig(cmdlineArgs, soongOutDir, availableEnv)
 	extraNinjaDeps := []string{
 		configuration.ProductVariablesFileName,
 		usedEnvFile,
diff --git a/dexpreopt/dexpreopt_gen/dexpreopt_gen.go b/dexpreopt/dexpreopt_gen/dexpreopt_gen.go
index 7dbe74c..ba05d94 100644
--- a/dexpreopt/dexpreopt_gen/dexpreopt_gen.go
+++ b/dexpreopt/dexpreopt_gen/dexpreopt_gen.go
@@ -87,7 +87,9 @@
 		usage("--module configuration file is required")
 	}
 
-	ctx := &builderContext{android.NullConfig(*outDir)}
+	// NOTE: duplicating --out_dir here is incorrect (one should be the another
+	// plus "/soong" but doing so apparently breaks dexpreopt
+	ctx := &builderContext{android.NullConfig(*outDir, *outDir)}
 
 	globalSoongConfigData, err := ioutil.ReadFile(*globalSoongConfigPath)
 	if err != nil {