diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaBinary.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaBinary.java
index 0ce7380f2860cc..cc7a91024c3144 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaBinary.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaBinary.java
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ public ConfiguredTarget create(RuleContext ruleContext)
         Lists.newArrayList(common.targetsTreatedAsDeps(ClasspathType.COMPILE_ONLY));
     helper.addLibrariesToAttributes(deps);
     attributesBuilder.addNativeLibraries(
-        collectNativeLibraries(ruleContext, common.targetsTreatedAsDeps(ClasspathType.BOTH)));
+        collectNativeLibraries(common.targetsTreatedAsDeps(ClasspathType.BOTH)));
 
     // deploy_env is valid for java_binary, but not for java_test.
     if (ruleContext.getRule().isAttrDefined("deploy_env", BuildType.LABEL_LIST)) {
@@ -677,9 +677,9 @@ private void collectDefaultRunfiles(
    * @return the native libraries found in the transitive closure of the deps.
    */
   public static Collection<Artifact> collectNativeLibraries(
-      RuleContext ruleContext, Iterable<? extends TransitiveInfoCollection> deps) {
+      Iterable<? extends TransitiveInfoCollection> deps) {
     NestedSet<LibraryToLink> linkerInputs =
-        new NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder(ruleContext).addJavaTargets(deps).build();
+        new NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder().addJavaTargets(deps).build();
     return LibraryToLink.getDynamicLibrariesForLinking(linkerInputs);
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCommon.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCommon.java
index d69235edd8512a..4d6a9ff0a2d175 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCommon.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCommon.java
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ public static void checkRuntimeDeps(
    * @see JavaNativeLibraryInfo
    */
   protected NestedSet<LibraryToLink> collectTransitiveJavaNativeLibraries() {
-    NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder builder = new NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder(ruleContext);
+    NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder builder = new NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder();
     builder.addJavaTargets(targetsTreatedAsDeps(ClasspathType.BOTH));
 
     if (ruleContext.getRule().isAttrDefined("data", BuildType.LABEL_LIST)) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaConfiguration.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaConfiguration.java
index eda85581afee1b..a1e8c6b373b1ee 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaConfiguration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaConfiguration.java
@@ -112,7 +112,6 @@ public enum ImportDepsCheckingLevel {
   private final boolean disallowResourceJars;
   private final boolean disallowLegacyJavaToolchainFlags;
   private final boolean experimentalTurbineAnnotationProcessing;
-  private final boolean dontCollectSoArtifacts;
 
   // TODO(dmarting): remove once we have a proper solution for #2539
   private final boolean useLegacyBazelJavaTest;
@@ -151,7 +150,6 @@ public JavaConfiguration(BuildOptions buildOptions) throws InvalidConfigurationE
     this.addTestSupportToCompileTimeDeps = javaOptions.addTestSupportToCompileTimeDeps;
     this.runAndroidLint = javaOptions.runAndroidLint;
     this.limitAndroidLintToAndroidCompatible = javaOptions.limitAndroidLintToAndroidCompatible;
-    this.dontCollectSoArtifacts = javaOptions.dontCollectSoArtifacts;
 
     ImmutableList.Builder<Label> translationsBuilder = ImmutableList.builder();
     for (String s : javaOptions.translationTargets) {
@@ -371,7 +369,6 @@ public boolean useLegacyBazelJavaTest() {
     return useLegacyBazelJavaTest;
   }
 
-
   /**
    * Make it mandatory for java_test targets to explicitly declare any JUnit or Hamcrest
    * dependencies instead of accidentally obtaining them from the TestRunner's dependencies.
@@ -439,8 +436,4 @@ public boolean disallowResourceJars() {
   public boolean experimentalTurbineAnnotationProcessing() {
     return experimentalTurbineAnnotationProcessing;
   }
-
-  public boolean dontCollectSoArtifacts() {
-    return dontCollectSoArtifacts;
-  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaOptions.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaOptions.java
index 395498bf9c940a..02b30ca41da2c2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaOptions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaOptions.java
@@ -650,6 +650,7 @@ public ImportDepsCheckingLevelConverter() {
       help = "The Java language version used to execute the tools that are needed during a build")
   public String hostJavaLanguageVersion;
 
+  // TODO(b/180107817): delete flag after removing from global .blazerc
   @Option(
       name = "incompatible_dont_collect_so_artifacts",
       defaultValue = "false",
@@ -659,9 +660,7 @@ public ImportDepsCheckingLevelConverter() {
         OptionMetadataTag.INCOMPATIBLE_CHANGE,
         OptionMetadataTag.TRIGGERED_BY_ALL_INCOMPATIBLE_CHANGES
       },
-      help =
-          "Disables collection of .so libraries as artifact (produced by filegroup or genrule); "
-              + " depend on cc_binary or cc_library directly.")
+      help = "This flag is a noop and scheduled for removal.")
   public boolean dontCollectSoArtifacts;
 
   Label defaultJavaBase() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder.java
index 474180a55046e8..d3872162b01118 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder.java
@@ -14,27 +14,16 @@
 
 package com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.java;
 
-import com.google.devtools.build.lib.actions.Artifact;
-import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.FileProvider;
-import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.RuleContext;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.TransitiveInfoCollection;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.collect.nestedset.NestedSet;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.collect.nestedset.NestedSetBuilder;
-import com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.cpp.CcLinkingOutputs;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.cpp.CcNativeLibraryProvider;
-import com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.cpp.CppFileTypes;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.cpp.LibraryToLink;
-import com.google.devtools.build.lib.util.FileType;
 
 /** A builder that helps construct nested sets of native libraries. */
 public final class NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder {
 
   private final NestedSetBuilder<LibraryToLink> builder = NestedSetBuilder.linkOrder();
-  private final RuleContext ruleContext;
-
-  public NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder(RuleContext ruleContext) {
-    this.ruleContext = ruleContext;
-  }
 
   /** Build a nested set of native libraries. */
   public NestedSet<LibraryToLink> build() {
@@ -70,8 +59,6 @@ public NativeLibraryNestedSetBuilder addJavaTarget(TransitiveInfoCollection dep)
       return this;
     }
 
-    addTarget(dep);
-
     return this;
   }
 
@@ -89,25 +76,6 @@ private void addCcTarget(TransitiveInfoCollection dep) {
     CcNativeLibraryProvider provider = dep.get(CcNativeLibraryProvider.PROVIDER);
     if (provider != null) {
       builder.addTransitive(provider.getTransitiveCcNativeLibraries());
-    } else {
-      addTarget(dep);
-    }
-  }
-
-  /** Include files and genrule artifacts. */
-  private void addTarget(TransitiveInfoCollection dep) {
-    if (ruleContext.getFragment(JavaConfiguration.class).dontCollectSoArtifacts()) {
-      return;
-    }
-    for (Artifact artifact :
-        FileType.filterList(
-            dep.getProvider(FileProvider.class).getFilesToBuild().toList(),
-            CppFileTypes.SHARED_LIBRARY)) {
-      builder.add(
-          LibraryToLink.builder()
-              .setLibraryIdentifier(CcLinkingOutputs.libraryIdentifierOf(artifact))
-              .setDynamicLibrary(artifact)
-              .build());
     }
   }
 }