diff --git a/cc/cc.go b/cc/cc.go
index 0668fd9aa..c5b24a4f6 100644
--- a/cc/cc.go
+++ b/cc/cc.go
@@ -357,6 +357,7 @@ var (
 	ndkLateStubDepTag     = dependencyTag{name: "ndk late stub", library: true}
 	vndkExtDepTag         = dependencyTag{name: "vndk extends", library: true}
 	runtimeDepTag         = dependencyTag{name: "runtime lib"}
+	coverageDepTag        = dependencyTag{name: "coverage"}
 )
 
 // Module contains the properties and members used by all C/C++ module types, and implements
@@ -938,7 +939,7 @@ func (c *Module) GenerateAndroidBuildActions(actx android.ModuleContext) {
 		flags = c.sanitize.flags(ctx, flags)
 	}
 	if c.coverage != nil {
-		flags = c.coverage.flags(ctx, flags)
+		flags, deps = c.coverage.flags(ctx, flags, deps)
 	}
 	if c.lto != nil {
 		flags = c.lto.flags(ctx, flags)
diff --git a/cc/coverage.go b/cc/coverage.go
index 9dc7f06b0..c189398a9 100644
--- a/cc/coverage.go
+++ b/cc/coverage.go
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ package cc
 import (
 	"strconv"
 
+	"github.com/google/blueprint"
+
 	"android/soong/android"
 )
 
@@ -41,30 +43,28 @@ func (cov *coverage) props() []interface{} {
 	return []interface{}{&cov.Properties}
 }
 
-func (cov *coverage) deps(ctx BaseModuleContext, deps Deps) Deps {
-	if cov.Properties.NeedCoverageBuild {
-		// Link libprofile-extras/libprofile-extras_ndk when coverage
-		// variant is required.  This is a no-op unless coverage is
-		// actually enabled during linking, when
-		// '-uinit_profile_extras' is added (in flags()) to force the
-		// setup code in libprofile-extras be linked into the
-		// binary/library.
-		//
-		// We cannot narrow it further to only the 'cov' variant since
-		// the mutator hasn't run (and we don't have the 'cov' variant
-		// yet).
-		if !ctx.useSdk() {
-			deps.LateStaticLibs = append(deps.LateStaticLibs, "libprofile-extras")
-		} else {
-			deps.LateStaticLibs = append(deps.LateStaticLibs, "libprofile-extras_ndk")
-		}
+func getProfileLibraryName(ctx ModuleContextIntf) string {
+	// This function should only ever be called for a cc.Module, so the
+	// following statement should always succeed.
+	if ctx.useSdk() {
+		return "libprofile-extras_ndk"
+	} else {
+		return "libprofile-extras"
+	}
+}
+
+func (cov *coverage) deps(ctx DepsContext, deps Deps) Deps {
+	if cov.Properties.NeedCoverageVariant {
+		ctx.AddVariationDependencies([]blueprint.Variation{
+			{Mutator: "link", Variation: "static"},
+		}, coverageDepTag, getProfileLibraryName(ctx))
 	}
 	return deps
 }
 
-func (cov *coverage) flags(ctx ModuleContext, flags Flags) Flags {
+func (cov *coverage) flags(ctx ModuleContext, flags Flags, deps PathDeps) (Flags, PathDeps) {
 	if !ctx.DeviceConfig().NativeCoverageEnabled() {
-		return flags
+		return flags, deps
 	}
 
 	if cov.Properties.CoverageEnabled {
@@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ func (cov *coverage) flags(ctx ModuleContext, flags Flags) Flags {
 	if cov.linkCoverage {
 		flags.LdFlags = append(flags.LdFlags, "--coverage")
 
-		// Force linking of constructor/setup code in libprofile-extras
-		flags.LdFlags = append(flags.LdFlags, "-uinit_profile_extras")
+		coverage := ctx.GetDirectDepWithTag(getProfileLibraryName(ctx), coverageDepTag).(*Module)
+		deps.WholeStaticLibs = append(deps.WholeStaticLibs, coverage.OutputFile().Path())
 	}
 
-	return flags
+	return flags, deps
 }
 
 func (cov *coverage) begin(ctx BaseModuleContext) {