diff --git a/jni/internal/java_jni_library.bzl b/jni/internal/java_jni_library.bzl
index 3284d20..651761d 100644
--- a/jni/internal/java_jni_library.bzl
+++ b/jni/internal/java_jni_library.bzl
@@ -53,9 +53,11 @@ def java_jni_library(
     tags = java_library_args.pop("tags", default = None)
     visibility = java_library_args.pop("visibility", default = None)
 
+    java_library_deps_arg = "deps" if java_library_args.get("srcs") else "runtime_deps"
+
     # Simple concatenation is compatible with select, append is not.
-    java_library_args.setdefault("deps", [])
-    java_library_args["deps"] += [Label("//jni/tools/native_loader")]
+    java_library_args.setdefault(java_library_deps_arg, [])
+    java_library_args[java_library_deps_arg] += [Label("//jni/tools/native_loader")]
 
     native.java_library(
         name = original_name,