diff --git a/recipes-openharmony/openharmony/java-tools.inc b/recipes-openharmony/openharmony/java-tools.inc
index ca08a43a0a39475a6da07113e542866be55baeaf..f2c6fff1809f699d99c8ee029ee4e82d39c55d78 100644
--- a/recipes-openharmony/openharmony/java-tools.inc
+++ b/recipes-openharmony/openharmony/java-tools.inc
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-# Make sure we have java tools in $PATH
+# This is needed for the STAGING_LIBDIR_JVM_NATIVE variable used below
+inherit java
 
+# Make sure we have java tools in $PATH
 DEPENDS:append = " openjdk-8-native"
-INHERIT:append = " java"
 JAVA_BUILD_VERSION = "openjdk-8-native"
 export JAVA_HOME = "${STAGING_LIBDIR_JVM_NATIVE}/${JAVA_BUILD_VERSION}"
 export CLASSPATH += "${STAGING_LIBDIR_JVM_NATIVE}/${JAVA_BUILD_VERSION}/lib/tools.jar"