diff --git a/src/cmd/go/go_test.go b/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
index 147917c46f..c169ec7db8 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
@@ -967,6 +967,14 @@ func TestInternalPackageErrorsAreHandled(t *testing.T) {
 	tg.run("list", "./testdata/testinternal3")
 }
 
+func TestInternalCache(t *testing.T) {
+	tg := testgo(t)
+	defer tg.cleanup()
+	tg.setenv("GOPATH", filepath.Join(tg.pwd(), "testdata/testinternal4"))
+	tg.runFail("build", "p")
+	tg.grepStderr("internal", "did not fail to build p")
+}
+
 func TestMoveGit(t *testing.T) {
 	testMove(t, "git", "rsc.io/pdf", "pdf", "rsc.io/pdf/.git/config")
 }
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/pkg.go b/src/cmd/go/pkg.go
index e6c17036fe..95b5eb347a 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/pkg.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/pkg.go
@@ -882,7 +882,13 @@ func (p *Package) load(stk *importStack, bp *build.Package, err error) *Package
 		deps[path] = p1
 		imports = append(imports, p1)
 		for _, dep := range p1.deps {
-			deps[dep.ImportPath] = dep
+			// Do not overwrite entries installed by direct import
+			// just above this loop. Those have stricter constraints
+			// about internal and vendor visibility and may contain
+			// errors that we need to preserve.
+			if deps[dep.ImportPath] == nil {
+				deps[dep.ImportPath] = dep
+			}
 		}
 		if p1.Incomplete {
 			p.Incomplete = true
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/p/p.go b/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/p/p.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6bdee27be2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/p/p.go
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+package p
+
+import (
+	_ "q/internal/x"
+	_ "q/j"
+)
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/q/internal/x/x.go b/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/q/internal/x/x.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..823aafd071
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/q/internal/x/x.go
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+package x
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/q/j/j.go b/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/q/j/j.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9f07543894
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/testinternal4/src/q/j/j.go
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+package j
+
+import _ "q/internal/x"