diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/BUILD b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/BUILD
index fee3fcd..119de1b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/BUILD
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/BUILD
@@ -1199,6 +1199,7 @@
         "//src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/vfs:pathfragment",
         "//src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options",
         "//third_party:guava",
+        "//third_party:jsr305",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/analysis/config/ExecutionInfoModifier.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/analysis/config/ExecutionInfoModifier.java
index ff37fb0..3777ffc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/analysis/config/ExecutionInfoModifier.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/analysis/config/ExecutionInfoModifier.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 import com.google.common.base.Splitter;
 import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
-import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList.Builder;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.Converters.RegexPatternConverter;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsParsingException;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -77,7 +76,10 @@
             new AutoValue_ExecutionInfoModifier_Expression(
                 // Convert to get a useful exception if it's not a valid pattern, but use the regex
                 // (see comment in Expression)
-                new RegexPatternConverter().convert(specMatcher.group("pattern")).pattern(),
+                new RegexPatternConverter()
+                    .convert(specMatcher.group("pattern"))
+                    .regexPattern()
+                    .pattern(),
                 specMatcher.group("sign").equals("-"),
                 specMatcher.group("key")));
       }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/buildtool/BuildRequestOptions.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/buildtool/BuildRequestOptions.java
index 79845b2..68f3197 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/buildtool/BuildRequestOptions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/buildtool/BuildRequestOptions.java
@@ -28,9 +28,10 @@
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsBase;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsParser;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsParsingException;
+import com.google.devtools.common.options.RegexPatternOption;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
-import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 
 /**
  * Options interface for {@link BuildRequest}: can be used to parse command-line arguments.
@@ -100,14 +101,14 @@
   public boolean verboseExplanations;
 
   @Option(
-    name = "output_filter",
-    converter = Converters.RegexPatternConverter.class,
-    defaultValue = "null",
-    documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.LOGGING,
-    effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.AFFECTS_OUTPUTS},
-    help = "Only shows warnings for rules with a name matching the provided regular expression."
-  )
-  public Pattern outputFilter;
+      name = "output_filter",
+      converter = Converters.RegexPatternConverter.class,
+      defaultValue = "null",
+      documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.LOGGING,
+      effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.AFFECTS_OUTPUTS},
+      help = "Only shows warnings for rules with a name matching the provided regular expression.")
+  @Nullable
+  public RegexPatternOption outputFilter;
 
   @Option(
     name = "analyze",
@@ -189,15 +190,15 @@
   public boolean announce;
 
   @Option(
-    name = "symlink_prefix",
-    defaultValue = "null",
-    documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.OUTPUT_PARAMETERS,
-    effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.AFFECTS_OUTPUTS},
-    help =
-        "The prefix that is prepended to any of the convenience symlinks that are created "
-            + "after a build. If '/' is passed, then no symlinks are created and no warning is "
-            + "emitted. If omitted, the default value is the name of the build tool."
-  )
+      name = "symlink_prefix",
+      defaultValue = "null",
+      documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.OUTPUT_PARAMETERS,
+      effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.AFFECTS_OUTPUTS},
+      help =
+          "The prefix that is prepended to any of the convenience symlinks that are created "
+              + "after a build. If '/' is passed, then no symlinks are created and no warning is "
+              + "emitted. If omitted, the default value is the name of the build tool.")
+  @Nullable
   public String symlinkPrefix;
 
   @Option(
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/buildtool/BuildTool.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/buildtool/BuildTool.java
index 10f0f6a..c00274d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/buildtool/BuildTool.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/buildtool/BuildTool.java
@@ -46,9 +46,9 @@
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.util.ExitCode;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.vfs.Path;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsProvider;
+import com.google.devtools.common.options.RegexPatternOption;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
-import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 /**
  * Provides the bulk of the implementation of the 'blaze build' command.
@@ -342,9 +342,11 @@
    * Initializes the output filter to the value given with {@code --output_filter}.
    */
   private void initializeOutputFilter(BuildRequest request) {
-    Pattern outputFilter = request.getBuildOptions().outputFilter;
-    if (outputFilter != null) {
-      getReporter().setOutputFilter(OutputFilter.RegexOutputFilter.forPattern(outputFilter));
+    RegexPatternOption outputFilterOption = request.getBuildOptions().outputFilter;
+    if (outputFilterOption != null) {
+      getReporter()
+          .setOutputFilter(
+              OutputFilter.RegexOutputFilter.forPattern(outputFilterOption.regexPattern()));
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalExecutionOptions.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalExecutionOptions.java
index d1eabcc..32e1cee 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalExecutionOptions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalExecutionOptions.java
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionDocumentationCategory;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionEffectTag;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsBase;
+import com.google.devtools.common.options.RegexPatternOption;
 import java.time.Duration;
-import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 /**
  * Local execution options.
@@ -39,16 +39,15 @@
   public int localSigkillGraceSeconds;
 
   @Option(
-    name = "allowed_local_actions_regex",
-    documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.UNDOCUMENTED,
-    effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.UNKNOWN},
-    converter = Converters.RegexPatternConverter.class,
-    defaultValue = "null",
-    help =
-        "A regex whitelist for action types which may be run locally. If unset, "
-            + "all actions are allowed to execute locally"
-  )
-  public Pattern allowedLocalAction;
+      name = "allowed_local_actions_regex",
+      documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.UNDOCUMENTED,
+      effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.UNKNOWN},
+      converter = Converters.RegexPatternConverter.class,
+      defaultValue = "null",
+      help =
+          "A regex whitelist for action types which may be run locally. If unset, "
+              + "all actions are allowed to execute locally")
+  public RegexPatternOption allowedLocalAction;
 
   @Option(
     name = "experimental_collect_local_action_metrics",
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalSpawnRunner.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalSpawnRunner.java
index eb92c7c..4426ad4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalSpawnRunner.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalSpawnRunner.java
@@ -254,11 +254,21 @@
       FileOutErr outErr = context.getFileOutErr();
       String actionType = spawn.getResourceOwner().getMnemonic();
       if (localExecutionOptions.allowedLocalAction != null
-          && !localExecutionOptions.allowedLocalAction.matcher(actionType).matches()) {
+          && !localExecutionOptions
+              .allowedLocalAction
+              .regexPattern()
+              .matcher(actionType)
+              .matches()) {
         setState(State.PERMANENT_ERROR);
-        outErr.getErrorStream().write(
-            ("Action type " + actionType + " is not allowed to run locally due to regex filter: "
-                + localExecutionOptions.allowedLocalAction + "\n").getBytes(UTF_8));
+        outErr
+            .getErrorStream()
+            .write(
+                ("Action type "
+                        + actionType
+                        + " is not allowed to run locally due to regex filter: "
+                        + localExecutionOptions.allowedLocalAction.regexPattern()
+                        + "\n")
+                    .getBytes(UTF_8));
         return new SpawnResult.Builder()
             .setRunnerName(getName())
             .setStatus(Status.EXECUTION_DENIED)
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/runtime/commands/ProfileCommand.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/runtime/commands/ProfileCommand.java
index 8590ea4..5a3330a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/runtime/commands/ProfileCommand.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/runtime/commands/ProfileCommand.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsBase;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsParser;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsParsingResult;
+import com.google.devtools.common.options.RegexPatternOption;
 import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
@@ -153,15 +154,15 @@
     public boolean htmlHistograms;
 
     @Option(
-      name = "task_tree",
-      defaultValue = "null",
-      converter = Converters.RegexPatternConverter.class,
-      documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.LOGGING,
-      effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.AFFECTS_OUTPUTS},
-      help =
-          "Print the tree of profiler tasks from all tasks matching the given regular expression."
-    )
-    public Pattern taskTree;
+        name = "task_tree",
+        defaultValue = "null",
+        converter = Converters.RegexPatternConverter.class,
+        documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.LOGGING,
+        effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.AFFECTS_OUTPUTS},
+        help =
+            "Print the tree of profiler tasks from all tasks matching the given regular"
+                + " expression.")
+    public RegexPatternOption taskTree;
 
     @Option(
       name = "task_tree_threshold",
@@ -272,7 +273,7 @@
             }
 
             if (opts.taskTree != null) {
-              printTaskTree(out, name, info, opts.taskTree, opts.taskTreeThreshold);
+              printTaskTree(out, name, info, opts.taskTree.regexPattern(), opts.taskTreeThreshold);
               continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/BUILD b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/BUILD
index f055d4b..5936b2c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/BUILD
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/BUILD
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
         ],
     ),
     deps = [
+        "//third_party:auto_value",
         "//third_party:guava",
         "//third_party:jsr305",
     ],
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/Converter.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/Converter.java
index 9b3c13b..f3e6ddd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/Converter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/Converter.java
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@
 public interface Converter<T> {
 
   /**
-   * Convert a string into type T.
+   * Convert a string into type T. Please note that we assume that converting the same string (if
+   * successful) will produce objects which are equal ({@link Object#equals)}).
    */
   T convert(String input) throws OptionsParsingException;
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/Converters.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/Converters.java
index 6874c7e..ef62c9b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/Converters.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/Converters.java
@@ -355,12 +355,12 @@
   }
 
   /** Checks whether a string is a valid regex pattern and compiles it. */
-  public static class RegexPatternConverter implements Converter<Pattern> {
+  public static class RegexPatternConverter implements Converter<RegexPatternOption> {
 
     @Override
-    public Pattern convert(String input) throws OptionsParsingException {
+    public RegexPatternOption convert(String input) throws OptionsParsingException {
       try {
-        return Pattern.compile(input);
+        return RegexPatternOption.create(Pattern.compile(input));
       } catch (PatternSyntaxException e) {
         throw new OptionsParsingException("Not a valid regular expression: " + e.getMessage());
       }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/RegexPatternOption.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/RegexPatternOption.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdf6313
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/RegexPatternOption.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The Bazel Authors. All rights reserved.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+package com.google.devtools.common.options;
+
+import com.google.auto.value.AutoValue;
+import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+/**
+ * Option class wrapping a {@link Pattern class}. We wrap the {@link Pattern} class instance since
+ * it uses reference equality, which breaks the assumption of {@link Converter} that {@code
+ * converter.convert(sameString).equals(converter.convert(sameString)}.
+ *
+ * <p>Please note that the equality implementation is based solely on the input regex, therefore
+ * patterns expressing the same intent with different regular expressions (e.g. {@code "a"} and
+ * {@code "[a]"} will not be treated as equal.
+ */
+@AutoValue
+public abstract class RegexPatternOption {
+  static RegexPatternOption create(Pattern regexPattern) {
+    return new AutoValue_RegexPatternOption(Preconditions.checkNotNull(regexPattern));
+  }
+
+  public abstract Pattern regexPattern();
+
+  @Override
+  public final boolean equals(Object other) {
+    if (this == other) {
+      return true;
+    }
+    if (!(other instanceof RegexPatternOption)) {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    RegexPatternOption otherOption = (RegexPatternOption) other;
+    return otherOption.regexPattern().pattern().equals(regexPattern().pattern());
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public final int hashCode() {
+    return regexPattern().pattern().hashCode();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalSpawnRunnerTest.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalSpawnRunnerTest.java
index 4d1f118..3a85428 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalSpawnRunnerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/exec/local/LocalSpawnRunnerTest.java
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.vfs.Path;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.vfs.PathFragment;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.vfs.inmemoryfs.InMemoryFileSystem;
+import com.google.devtools.common.options.Converters.RegexPatternConverter;
 import com.google.devtools.common.options.Options;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.File;
@@ -78,7 +79,6 @@
 import java.util.logging.Filter;
 import java.util.logging.LogRecord;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
-import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@
     FileSystem fs = setupEnvironmentForFakeExecution();
 
     LocalExecutionOptions options = Options.getDefaults(LocalExecutionOptions.class);
-    options.allowedLocalAction = Pattern.compile("none");
+    options.allowedLocalAction = new RegexPatternConverter().convert("none");
     LocalSpawnRunner runner =
         new TestedLocalSpawnRunner(
             fs.getPath("/execroot"),
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/BUILD b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/BUILD
index 76d843b..40fe246 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/BUILD
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/BUILD
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
         "//src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib:util",
         "//src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options",
         "//src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options:invocation_policy",
+        "//src/main/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/testing",
         "//src/main/protobuf:invocation_policy_java_proto",
         "//src/main/protobuf:option_filters_java_proto",
         "//src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib:testutil",
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/RegexPatternConverterTest.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/RegexPatternConverterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d86514
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/common/options/RegexPatternConverterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The Bazel Authors. All rights reserved.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+package com.google.devtools.common.options;
+
+import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
+import com.google.devtools.common.options.Converters.RegexPatternConverter;
+import com.google.devtools.common.options.testing.ConverterTester;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;
+
+/** A test for {@link RegexPatternConverter} */
+@RunWith(JUnit4.class)
+public class RegexPatternConverterTest {
+  @Test
+  public void consistentEqualsAndHashCodeForSamePattern() {
+    new ConverterTester(RegexPatternConverter.class)
+        .addEqualityGroup("")
+        .addEqualityGroup(".*")
+        .addEqualityGroup("[^\\s]+")
+        .testConvert();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void comparisonBasedOnInputOnly() {
+    String regex = "a";
+    String semanticallyTheSame = "[a]";
+
+    new ConverterTester(RegexPatternConverter.class)
+        .addEqualityGroup(regex)
+        .addEqualityGroup(semanticallyTheSame)
+        .testConvert();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void createsProperPattern() throws OptionsParsingException {
+    RegexPatternConverter converter = new RegexPatternConverter();
+    for (String regex : new String[] {"", ".*", "\\s*(\\w+)", "prefix (suffix1|suffix2)"}) {
+      // We are not testing {@link Pattern} itself -- the assumption is that if {@link
+      // Pattern#pattern} returns the proper string, we created the right pattern.
+      assertThat(converter.convert(regex).regexPattern().pattern()).isEqualTo(regex);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void throwsForWrongPattern() {
+    try {
+      new RegexPatternConverter().convert("{");
+      fail();
+    } catch (OptionsParsingException e) {
+      assertThat(e).hasMessageThat().startsWith("Not a valid regular expression:");
+    }
+  }
+}