diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/package_base.py b/lib/spack/spack/package_base.py
index 6d17f0d3c0f..105e1ad85e0 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/package_base.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/package_base.py
@@ -700,6 +700,8 @@ def __init__(self, spec):
         settings = spack.config.get("packages").get(spec.name, {}).get("package_attributes", {})
         for key, val in settings.items():
             setattr(self, key, val)
+        # Note: the potential issue with setting these attributes here vs.
+        # in Repo.get is that subclasses could override these properties
 
     @classmethod
     def possible_dependencies(