- * common code to update a credential. model_cred is a temporary, non reference
- * counted credential used only for comparison and modeling purposes. old_cred
- * is a live reference counted credential that we intend to update using model_cred
- * as our model.
+ * Common code to update a credential. model_cred is a temporary, non
+ * reference counted credential used only for comparison and modeling
+ * purposes. old_cred is a live reference counted credential that we
+ * intend to update using model_cred as our model.
+ *
+ * IMPORTANT: If the old_cred ends up updated by this process, we will, as
+ * a side effect, drop the reference we held on it going in.