diff --git a/apex/apex.go b/apex/apex.go
index 1d50cee3b..b324644a1 100644
--- a/apex/apex.go
+++ b/apex/apex.go
@@ -492,6 +492,19 @@ func getCopyManifestForNativeLibrary(cc *cc.Module) (fileToCopy android.Path, di
 	if !cc.Arch().Native {
 		dirInApex = filepath.Join(dirInApex, cc.Arch().ArchType.String())
 	}
+	switch cc.Name() {
+	case "libc", "libm", "libdl":
+		// Special case for bionic libs. This is to prevent the bionic libs
+		// from being included in the search path /apex/com.android.apex/lib.
+		// This exclusion is required because bionic libs in the runtime APEX
+		// are available via the legacy paths /system/lib/libc.so, etc. By the
+		// init process, the bionic libs in the APEX are bind-mounted to the
+		// legacy paths and thus will be loaded into the default linker namespace.
+		// If the bionic libs are directly in /apex/com.android.apex/lib then
+		// the same libs will be again loaded to the runtime linker namespace,
+		// which will result double loading of bionic libs that isn't supported.
+		dirInApex = filepath.Join(dirInApex, "bionic")
+	}
 
 	fileToCopy = cc.OutputFile().Path()
 	return
diff --git a/apex/apex_test.go b/apex/apex_test.go
index f8f9b33b4..d4f0f7e3f 100644
--- a/apex/apex_test.go
+++ b/apex/apex_test.go
@@ -492,6 +492,13 @@ func TestApexWithSystemLibsStubs(t *testing.T) {
 				versions: ["27", "28", "29"],
 			},
 		}
+
+		cc_library {
+			name: "libBootstrap",
+			srcs: ["mylib.cpp"],
+			stl: "none",
+			bootstrap: true,
+		}
 	`)
 
 	apexRule := ctx.ModuleForTests("myapex", "android_common_myapex").Rule("apexRule")
@@ -499,11 +506,11 @@ func TestApexWithSystemLibsStubs(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Ensure that mylib, libm, libdl are included.
 	ensureContains(t, copyCmds, "image.apex/lib64/mylib.so")
-	ensureContains(t, copyCmds, "image.apex/lib64/libm.so")
-	ensureContains(t, copyCmds, "image.apex/lib64/libdl.so")
+	ensureContains(t, copyCmds, "image.apex/lib64/bionic/libm.so")
+	ensureContains(t, copyCmds, "image.apex/lib64/bionic/libdl.so")
 
 	// Ensure that libc is not included (since it has stubs and not listed in native_shared_libs)
-	ensureNotContains(t, copyCmds, "image.apex/lib64/libc.so")
+	ensureNotContains(t, copyCmds, "image.apex/lib64/bionic/libc.so")
 
 	mylibLdFlags := ctx.ModuleForTests("mylib", "android_arm64_armv8-a_core_shared_myapex").Rule("ld").Args["libFlags"]
 	mylibCFlags := ctx.ModuleForTests("mylib", "android_arm64_armv8-a_core_static_myapex").Rule("cc").Args["cFlags"]
@@ -538,6 +545,12 @@ func TestApexWithSystemLibsStubs(t *testing.T) {
 	// ... Cflags from stub is correctly exported to mylib
 	ensureContains(t, mylibCFlags, "__LIBDL_API__=27")
 	ensureContains(t, mylibSharedCFlags, "__LIBDL_API__=27")
+
+	// Ensure that libBootstrap is depending on the platform variant of bionic libs
+	libFlags := ctx.ModuleForTests("libBootstrap", "android_arm64_armv8-a_core_shared").Rule("ld").Args["libFlags"]
+	ensureContains(t, libFlags, "libc/android_arm64_armv8-a_core_shared/libc.so")
+	ensureContains(t, libFlags, "libm/android_arm64_armv8-a_core_shared/libm.so")
+	ensureContains(t, libFlags, "libdl/android_arm64_armv8-a_core_shared/libdl.so")
 }
 
 func TestFilesInSubDir(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/cc/androidmk.go b/cc/androidmk.go
index 82feec833..784475612 100644
--- a/cc/androidmk.go
+++ b/cc/androidmk.go
@@ -29,9 +29,12 @@ var (
 )
 
 type AndroidMkContext interface {
+	Name() string
 	Target() android.Target
 	subAndroidMk(*android.AndroidMkData, interface{})
 	useVndk() bool
+	static() bool
+	inRecovery() bool
 }
 
 type subAndroidMkProvider interface {
@@ -59,8 +62,12 @@ func (c *Module) AndroidMk() android.AndroidMkData {
 
 	ret := android.AndroidMkData{
 		OutputFile: c.outputFile,
-		Required:   append(c.Properties.AndroidMkRuntimeLibs, c.Properties.ApexesProvidingSharedLibs...),
-		Include:    "$(BUILD_SYSTEM)/soong_cc_prebuilt.mk",
+		// TODO(jiyong): add the APEXes providing shared libs to the required modules
+		// Currently, adding c.Properties.ApexesProvidingSharedLibs is causing multiple
+		// runtime APEXes (com.android.runtime.debug|release) to be installed. And this
+		// is breaking some older devices (like marlin) where system.img is small.
+		Required: c.Properties.AndroidMkRuntimeLibs,
+		Include:  "$(BUILD_SYSTEM)/soong_cc_prebuilt.mk",
 
 		Extra: []android.AndroidMkExtraFunc{
 			func(w io.Writer, outputFile android.Path) {
@@ -172,13 +179,23 @@ func (library *libraryDecorator) AndroidMk(ctx AndroidMkContext, ret *android.An
 		}
 	})
 
-	if library.shared() {
+	if library.shared() && !library.buildStubs() {
 		ctx.subAndroidMk(ret, library.baseInstaller)
 	} else {
 		ret.Extra = append(ret.Extra, func(w io.Writer, outputFile android.Path) {
 			fmt.Fprintln(w, "LOCAL_UNINSTALLABLE_MODULE := true")
+			if library.buildStubs() {
+				fmt.Fprintln(w, "LOCAL_NO_NOTICE_FILE := true")
+			}
 		})
 	}
+
+	if len(library.Properties.Stubs.Versions) > 0 && android.DirectlyInAnyApex(ctx.Name()) &&
+		!ctx.inRecovery() && !ctx.useVndk() && !ctx.static() {
+		if !library.buildStubs() {
+			ret.SubName = ".bootstrap"
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 func (object *objectLinker) AndroidMk(ctx AndroidMkContext, ret *android.AndroidMkData) {
diff --git a/cc/cc.go b/cc/cc.go
index ce28a3bf4..85e3a6718 100644
--- a/cc/cc.go
+++ b/cc/cc.go
@@ -201,6 +201,10 @@ type BaseProperties struct {
 	Recovery_available *bool
 
 	InRecovery bool `blueprint:"mutated"`
+
+	// Allows this module to use non-APEX version of libraries. Useful
+	// for building binaries that are started before APEXes are activated.
+	Bootstrap *bool
 }
 
 type VendorProperties struct {
@@ -250,6 +254,8 @@ type ModuleContextIntf interface {
 	isPgoCompile() bool
 	useClangLld(actx ModuleContext) bool
 	isApex() bool
+	hasStubsVariants() bool
+	isStubs() bool
 }
 
 type ModuleContext interface {
@@ -676,6 +682,14 @@ func (ctx *moduleContextImpl) isApex() bool {
 	return ctx.mod.ApexName() != ""
 }
 
+func (ctx *moduleContextImpl) hasStubsVariants() bool {
+	return ctx.mod.HasStubsVariants()
+}
+
+func (ctx *moduleContextImpl) isStubs() bool {
+	return ctx.mod.IsStubs()
+}
+
 func newBaseModule(hod android.HostOrDeviceSupported, multilib android.Multilib) *Module {
 	return &Module{
 		hod:      hod,
@@ -855,6 +869,18 @@ func (c *Module) GenerateAndroidBuildActions(actx android.ModuleContext) {
 			return
 		}
 		c.outputFile = android.OptionalPathForPath(outputFile)
+
+		// If a lib is directly included in any of the APEXes, unhide the stubs
+		// variant having the latest version gets visible to make. In addition,
+		// the non-stubs variant is renamed to <libname>.bootstrap. This is to
+		// force anything in the make world to link against the stubs library.
+		// (unless it is explicitly referenced via .bootstrap suffix or the
+		// module is marked with 'bootstrap: true').
+		if c.HasStubsVariants() && android.DirectlyInAnyApex(ctx.baseModuleName()) &&
+			!c.inRecovery() && !c.useVndk() && !c.static() && c.IsStubs() {
+			c.Properties.HideFromMake = false // unhide
+			// Note: this is still non-installable
+		}
 	}
 
 	if c.installer != nil && !c.Properties.PreventInstall && c.IsForPlatform() && c.outputFile.Valid() {
@@ -1446,8 +1472,8 @@ func (c *Module) depsToPaths(ctx android.ModuleContext) PathDeps {
 					// If not building for APEX, use stubs only when it is from
 					// an APEX (and not from platform)
 					useThisDep = (depInPlatform != depIsStubs)
-					if c.inRecovery() {
-						// However, for recovery modules, since there is no APEX there,
+					if c.inRecovery() || Bool(c.Properties.Bootstrap) {
+						// However, for recovery or bootstrap modules,
 						// always link to non-stub variant
 						useThisDep = !depIsStubs
 					}