diff --git a/core/base_rules.mk b/core/base_rules.mk
index e7c28ec847..b3c5b946fa 100644
--- a/core/base_rules.mk
+++ b/core/base_rules.mk
@@ -965,6 +965,9 @@ ifneq (,$(LOCAL_SOONG_INSTALLED_MODULE))
       $(my_init_rc_installed) \
       $(my_installed_test_data) \
       $(my_vintf_installed))
+
+  ALL_MODULES.$(my_register_name).INSTALLED_SYMLINKS := $(LOCAL_SOONG_INSTALL_SYMLINKS)
+
   # Store the list of colon-separated pairs of the built and installed locations
   # of files provided by this module.  Used by custom packaging rules like
   # package-modules.mk that need to copy the built files to a custom install
diff --git a/core/main.mk b/core/main.mk
index 5738cdb78b..12b7bd0105 100644
--- a/core/main.mk
+++ b/core/main.mk
@@ -1720,8 +1720,10 @@ else ifneq ($(TARGET_BUILD_APPS),)
     unbundled_build_modules := $(sort $(TARGET_BUILD_APPS))
   endif
 
-  # Dist the installed files if they exist.
-  apps_only_installed_files := $(foreach m,$(unbundled_build_modules),$(ALL_MODULES.$(m).INSTALLED))
+  # Dist the installed files if they exist, except the installed symlinks. dist-for-goals emits
+  # `cp src dest` commands, which will fail to copy dangling symlinks.
+  apps_only_installed_files := $(foreach m,$(unbundled_build_modules),\
+    $(filter-out $(ALL_MODULES.$(m).INSTALLED_SYMLINKS),$(ALL_MODULES.$(m).INSTALLED)))
   $(call dist-for-goals,apps_only, $(apps_only_installed_files))
 
   # Dist the bundle files if they exist.
diff --git a/target/product/gsi_release.mk b/target/product/gsi_release.mk
index e39af92ae5..bd85b9f51e 100644
--- a/target/product/gsi_release.mk
+++ b/target/product/gsi_release.mk
@@ -28,10 +28,15 @@
 
 BUILDING_GSI := true
 
-# Exclude all files under system/product and system/system_ext
+# Exclude all files under system/product and system/system_ext,
+# and the vndk apex's compat symlinks
 PRODUCT_ARTIFACT_PATH_REQUIREMENT_ALLOWED_LIST += \
     system/product/% \
-    system/system_ext/%
+    system/system_ext/% \
+    system/lib/vndk-29 \
+    system/lib/vndk-sp-29 \
+    system/lib64/vndk-29 \
+    system/lib64/vndk-sp-29
 
 # GSI should always support up-to-date platform features.
 # Keep this value at the latest API level to ensure latest build system