diff --git a/cmds/dumpstate/Android.bp b/cmds/dumpstate/Android.bp
index be96306..1397ae6 100644
--- a/cmds/dumpstate/Android.bp
+++ b/cmds/dumpstate/Android.bp
@@ -83,14 +83,16 @@
         "aconfig_lib_cc_static_link.defaults",
         "dumpstate_cflag_defaults",
     ],
+    // See README.md: "Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link"
+    // Do not add things here - keep dumpstate as simple as possible and exec where possible.
     shared_libs: [
         "android.hardware.dumpstate@1.0",
         "android.hardware.dumpstate@1.1",
         "android.hardware.dumpstate-V1-ndk",
         "libziparchive",
         "libbase",
-        "libbinder",
-        "libbinder_ndk",
+        "libbinder", // BAD: dumpstate should not link code directly, should only exec binaries
+        "libbinder_ndk", // BAD: dumpstate should not link code directly, should only exec binaries
         "libcrypto",
         "libcutils",
         "libdebuggerd_client",
@@ -98,11 +100,11 @@
         "libdumpstateutil",
         "libdumputils",
         "libhardware_legacy",
-        "libhidlbase",
+        "libhidlbase", // BAD: dumpstate should not link code directly, should only exec binaries
         "liblog",
         "libutils",
-        "libvintf",
-        "libbinderdebug",
+        "libvintf", // BAD: dumpstate should not link code directly, should only exec binaries
+        "libbinderdebug", // BAD: dumpstate should not link code directly, should only exec binaries
         "packagemanager_aidl-cpp",
         "server_configurable_flags",
         "device_policy_aconfig_flags_c_lib",
diff --git a/cmds/dumpstate/README.md b/cmds/dumpstate/README.md
index 26dabbb..3ab971a 100644
--- a/cmds/dumpstate/README.md
+++ b/cmds/dumpstate/README.md
@@ -21,6 +21,18 @@
 mmm -j frameworks/native/cmds/dumpstate device/acme/secret_device/dumpstate/ hardware/interfaces/dumpstate
 ```
 
+## Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link
+
+Never link code directly into dumpstate. Dumpstate should execute many
+binaries and collect the results. In general, code should fail hard fail fast,
+but dumpstate is the last to solve many Android bugs. Oftentimes, failures
+in core Android infrastructure or tools are issues that cause problems in
+bugreport directly, so bugreport should not rely on these tools working.
+We want dumpstate to have as minimal of code loaded in process so that
+only that core subset needs to be bugfree for bugreport to work. Even if
+many pieces of Android break, that should not prevent dumpstate from
+working.
+
 ## To build, deploy, and take a bugreport
 
 ```
diff --git a/cmds/dumpstate/dumpstate.cpp b/cmds/dumpstate/dumpstate.cpp
index bb0ffe6..c24bee1 100644
--- a/cmds/dumpstate/dumpstate.cpp
+++ b/cmds/dumpstate/dumpstate.cpp
@@ -128,6 +128,9 @@
 using android::os::dumpstate::TaskQueue;
 using android::os::dumpstate::WaitForTask;
 
+// BAD - See README.md: "Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link"
+// Do not add more complicated variables here, prefer to execute only. Don't link more code here.
+
 // Keep in sync with
 // frameworks/base/services/core/java/com/android/server/am/ActivityManagerService.java
 static const int TRACE_DUMP_TIMEOUT_MS = 10000; // 10 seconds
@@ -1266,6 +1269,8 @@
     }
 }
 
+// BAD - See README.md: "Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link"
+// This should all be moved into a separate binary rather than have complex logic here.
 static Dumpstate::RunStatus RunDumpsysTextByPriority(const std::string& title, int priority,
                                                      std::chrono::milliseconds timeout,
                                                      std::chrono::milliseconds service_timeout) {
@@ -1346,6 +1351,8 @@
                                     service_timeout);
 }
 
+// BAD - See README.md: "Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link"
+// This should all be moved into a separate binary rather than have complex logic here.
 static Dumpstate::RunStatus RunDumpsysProto(const std::string& title, int priority,
                                             std::chrono::milliseconds timeout,
                                             std::chrono::milliseconds service_timeout) {
@@ -1427,6 +1434,8 @@
  * Dumpstate can pick up later and output to the bugreport. Using STDOUT_FILENO
  * if it's not running in the parallel task.
  */
+// BAD - See README.md: "Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link"
+// This should all be moved into a separate binary rather than have complex logic here.
 static void DumpHals(int out_fd = STDOUT_FILENO) {
     RunCommand("HARDWARE HALS", {"lshal", "--all", "--types=all"},
                CommandOptions::WithTimeout(10).AsRootIfAvailable().Build(),
@@ -1483,6 +1492,9 @@
     }
 }
 
+// BAD - See README.md: "Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link"
+// This should all be moved into a separate binary rather than have complex logic here.
+//
 // Dump all of the files that make up the vendor interface.
 // See the files listed in dumpFileList() for the latest list of files.
 static void DumpVintf() {
@@ -1512,6 +1524,8 @@
     printf("------ EXTERNAL FRAGMENTATION INFO ------\n");
     std::ifstream ifs("/proc/buddyinfo");
     auto unusable_index_regex = std::regex{"Node\\s+([0-9]+),\\s+zone\\s+(\\S+)\\s+(.*)"};
+    // BAD - See README.md: "Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link"
+    // This should all be moved into a separate binary rather than have complex logic here.
     for (std::string line; std::getline(ifs, line);) {
         std::smatch match_results;
         if (std::regex_match(line, match_results, unusable_index_regex)) {
@@ -2452,6 +2466,8 @@
     return dumpstate_hal_aidl::IDumpstateDevice::DumpstateMode::DEFAULT;
 }
 
+// BAD - See README.md: "Dumpstate philosophy: exec not link"
+// This should all be moved into a separate binary rather than have complex logic here.
 static void DoDumpstateBoardHidl(
     const sp<dumpstate_hal_hidl_1_0::IDumpstateDevice> dumpstate_hal_1_0,
     const std::vector<::ndk::ScopedFileDescriptor>& dumpstate_fds,