diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCompileAction.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCompileAction.java
index d11345aa804816..7c6ef5996dd92b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCompileAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCompileAction.java
@@ -113,11 +113,6 @@ public final class JavaCompileAction extends SpawnAction {
    */
   private final ImmutableList<String> processorNames;
 
-  /**
-   * The list of custom javac flags to pass to annotation processors.
-   */
-  private final ImmutableList<String> processorFlags;
-
   /** Set of additional Java source files to compile. */
   private final ImmutableList<Artifact> sourceJars;
 
@@ -158,7 +153,6 @@ public final class JavaCompileAction extends SpawnAction {
    * @param extdirInputs the compile-time extclasspath entries
    * @param processorPath the classpath to search for annotation processors
    * @param processorNames the annotation processors to run
-   * @param processorFlags custom annotation processor flags to pass to javac
    * @param sourceJars jars of sources to compile
    * @param sourceFiles source files to compile
    * @param javacOpts the javac options for the compilation
@@ -183,7 +177,6 @@ private JavaCompileAction(
       ImmutableList<Artifact> extdirInputs,
       NestedSet<Artifact> processorPath,
       List<String> processorNames,
-      List<String> processorFlags,
       Collection<Artifact> sourceJars,
       ImmutableSet<Artifact> sourceFiles,
       List<String> javacOpts,
@@ -218,7 +211,6 @@ private JavaCompileAction(
     this.extdirInputs = extdirInputs;
     this.processorPath = processorPath;
     this.processorNames = ImmutableList.copyOf(processorNames);
-    this.processorFlags = ImmutableList.copyOf(processorFlags);
     this.sourceJars = ImmutableList.copyOf(sourceJars);
     this.sourceFiles = sourceFiles;
     this.javacOpts = ImmutableList.copyOf(javacOpts);
@@ -308,10 +300,6 @@ public List<String> getProcessorNames() {
     return processorNames;
   }
 
-  private List<String> getProcessorFlags() {
-    return processorFlags;
-  }
-
   /**
    * Returns the output jar artifact that gets generated by archiving the results of the Java
    * compilation.
@@ -520,6 +508,7 @@ public static class Builder {
     private PathFragment classDirectory;
     private NestedSet<Artifact> processorPath = NestedSetBuilder.emptySet(Order.NAIVE_LINK_ORDER);
     private final List<String> processorNames = new ArrayList<>();
+    /** The list of custom javac flags to pass to annotation processors. */
     private final List<String> processorFlags = new ArrayList<>();
     private String ruleKind;
     private Label targetLabel;
@@ -582,8 +571,6 @@ public JavaCompileAction build() {
       }
 
       Preconditions.checkState(javaExecutable != null, owner);
-      Preconditions.checkState(javaExecutable.isAbsolute() ^ !javabaseInputs.isEmpty(),
-          javaExecutable);
 
       ImmutableList.Builder<Artifact> outputsBuilder = ImmutableList.<Artifact>builder()
           .addAll(
@@ -655,7 +642,6 @@ public JavaCompileAction build() {
           extdirInputs,
           processorPath,
           processorNames,
-          processorFlags,
           sourceJars,
           sourceFiles,
           internedJcopts,
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JvmConfigurationLoader.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JvmConfigurationLoader.java
index 4006bc872fb810..0af25147e60d33 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JvmConfigurationLoader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JvmConfigurationLoader.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.Target;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.syntax.Type;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.vfs.PathFragment;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 
@@ -127,6 +128,14 @@ private static Jvm createFromRuntimeSuite(
     PathFragment javaHomePath = defaultJavaHome(javaRuntimeLabel);
     if (attributes.isAttributeValueExplicitlySpecified("java_home")) {
       javaHomePath = javaHomePath.getRelative(attributes.get("java_home", Type.STRING));
+      List<Label> srcs = attributes.get("srcs", BuildType.LABEL_LIST);
+      if (!(javaHomePath.isAbsolute() ^ !srcs.isEmpty())) {
+        throw new InvalidConfigurationException(
+            String.format(
+                "'java_home' with an absolute path requires 'srcs' to be empty. "
+                    + "'java_home' was %s, 'srcs' was %s",
+                javaHomePath, srcs.toString()));
+      }
     }
     return new Jvm(javaHomePath, javaRuntimeLabel);
   }