diff --git a/android/config.go b/android/config.go
index 51146655f..5f1acf628 100644
--- a/android/config.go
+++ b/android/config.go
@@ -1415,6 +1415,26 @@ func (l *ConfiguredJarList) BuildPaths(ctx PathContext, dir OutputPath) Writable
 	return paths
 }
 
+// Called when loading configuration from JSON into a configuration structure.
+func (l *ConfiguredJarList) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
+	// Try and unmarshal into a []string each item of which contains a pair
+	// <apex>:<jar>.
+	var list []string
+	err := json.Unmarshal(b, &list)
+	if err != nil {
+		// Did not work so return
+		return err
+	}
+
+	apexes, jars, err := splitListOfPairsIntoPairOfLists(list)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	l.apexes = apexes
+	l.jars = jars
+	return nil
+}
+
 func ModuleStem(module string) string {
 	// b/139391334: the stem of framework-minus-apex is framework. This is hard coded here until we
 	// find a good way to query the stem of a module before any other mutators are run.
@@ -1494,9 +1514,8 @@ var earlyBootJarsKey = NewOnceKey("earlyBootJars")
 
 func (c *config) BootJars() []string {
 	return c.Once(earlyBootJarsKey, func() interface{} {
-		ctx := NullPathContext{Config{c}}
-		list := CreateConfiguredJarList(ctx,
-			append(CopyOf(c.productVariables.BootJars), c.productVariables.UpdatableBootJars...))
-		return list.CopyOfJars()
+		list := c.productVariables.BootJars.CopyOfJars()
+		list = append(list, c.productVariables.UpdatableBootJars.CopyOfJars()...)
+		return list
 	}).([]string)
 }
diff --git a/android/variable.go b/android/variable.go
index 23fc6c209..7999f0fb0 100644
--- a/android/variable.go
+++ b/android/variable.go
@@ -249,8 +249,8 @@ type productVariables struct {
 	UncompressPrivAppDex             *bool    `json:",omitempty"`
 	ModulesLoadedByPrivilegedModules []string `json:",omitempty"`
 
-	BootJars          []string `json:",omitempty"`
-	UpdatableBootJars []string `json:",omitempty"`
+	BootJars          ConfiguredJarList `json:",omitempty"`
+	UpdatableBootJars ConfiguredJarList `json:",omitempty"`
 
 	IntegerOverflowExcludePaths []string `json:",omitempty"`
 
diff --git a/apex/apex_test.go b/apex/apex_test.go
index fcd734c3b..f400936a7 100644
--- a/apex/apex_test.go
+++ b/apex/apex_test.go
@@ -5905,7 +5905,7 @@ func testApexPermittedPackagesRules(t *testing.T, errmsg, bp string, apexBootJar
 	for _, apexBootJar := range apexBootJars {
 		updatableBootJars = append(updatableBootJars, "myapex:"+apexBootJar)
 	}
-	config.TestProductVariables.UpdatableBootJars = updatableBootJars
+	config.TestProductVariables.UpdatableBootJars = android.CreateConfiguredJarList(nil, updatableBootJars)
 
 	ctx.Register(config)
 
diff --git a/java/hiddenapi_singleton_test.go b/java/hiddenapi_singleton_test.go
index dbdab7ade..0c223d970 100644
--- a/java/hiddenapi_singleton_test.go
+++ b/java/hiddenapi_singleton_test.go
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import (
 
 func testConfigWithBootJars(bp string, bootJars []string) android.Config {
 	config := testConfig(nil, bp, nil)
-	config.TestProductVariables.BootJars = bootJars
+	config.TestProductVariables.BootJars = android.CreateConfiguredJarList(nil, bootJars)
 	return config
 }