diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 55e6e8a1..b8687bb1 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -208,6 +208,10 @@ my_function(void)
                                              parameter3, parameter4);
 ```
 
+- do not write fallback paths for failed simple memory allocations, use the
+  `x*alloc()` wrappers from `shared/xalloc.h` instead or use
+  `abort_oom_if_null()`
+
 Conduct
 =======
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 81dbeae2..03e32392 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ bugs and shortcomings, we avoid unknown or variable behaviour as much as
 possible, including variable performance such as occasional spikes in frame
 display time.
 
+Weston and libweston are not suitable for memory constrained environments
+where the compositor is expected to continue running even in the face of
+trivial memory allocations failing. If standard functions like `malloc()`
+fail for small allocations,
+[you can expect libweston to abort](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayland/weston/-/issues/631).
+
 A small suite of example or demo clients are also provided: though they can be
 useful in themselves, their main purpose is to be an example or test case for
 others building compositors or clients.