2 files changed, 16 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/kernfs/static_directory_refs.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/kernfs/static_directory_refs.go
index 88cba9456..d6180daa3 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/kernfs/static_directory_refs.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/kernfs/static_directory_refs.go
@@ -20,6 +20,14 @@ var StaticDirectoryobj *StaticDirectory
 // Refs implements refs.RefCounter. It keeps a reference count using atomic
 // operations and calls the destructor when the count reaches zero.
 //
+// NOTE: Do not introduce additional fields to the Refs struct. It is used by
+// many filesystem objects, and we want to keep it as small as possible (i.e.,
+// the same size as using an int64 directly) to avoid taking up extra cache
+// space. In general, this template should not be extended at the cost of
+// performance. If it does not offer enough flexibility for a particular object
+// (example: b/187877947), we should implement the RefCounter/CheckedObject
+// interfaces manually.
+//
 // +stateify savable
 type StaticDirectoryRefs struct {
 	// refCount is composed of two fields:
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/kernfs/synthetic_directory_refs.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/kernfs/synthetic_directory_refs.go
index 4409edd35..c428cdead 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/kernfs/synthetic_directory_refs.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/kernfs/synthetic_directory_refs.go
@@ -20,6 +20,14 @@ var syntheticDirectoryobj *syntheticDirectory
 // Refs implements refs.RefCounter. It keeps a reference count using atomic
 // operations and calls the destructor when the count reaches zero.
 //
+// NOTE: Do not introduce additional fields to the Refs struct. It is used by
+// many filesystem objects, and we want to keep it as small as possible (i.e.,
+// the same size as using an int64 directly) to avoid taking up extra cache
+// space. In general, this template should not be extended at the cost of
+// performance. If it does not offer enough flexibility for a particular object
+// (example: b/187877947), we should implement the RefCounter/CheckedObject
+// interfaces manually.
+//
 // +stateify savable
 type syntheticDirectoryRefs struct {
 	// refCount is composed of two fields: