[OnePlus 3 & 3T Cross Device Development] AlkaliV2:
Where to even begin...

It is not the end user's fault that CM went through a meltdown and somehow managed to spawn another free and highly polished version of the software so quickly. Eventually they had to release testing builds so that users, like the people that hang out in these threads, could provide feedback based on their usage and needs. Then those users would report bugs in these threads along with steps to reproduce the bug and any logs that are associated with said bug and the developer would fix it. That is how the system is supposed to work.

This isn't a complaint thread, its a development thread. Don't let other users responses fool you into thinking you're in the right on this one because you're not. We are supposed to post bugs, attach logs, report the steps required to reproduce, and list the specs of our devices just like a standard open source bug report requires (which I'm sure you're familiar with since you know how to "work around" issues in Linux). Any personal thoughts on what should or shouldn't be happening with the software has no place in this thread. You can complain in the general forums for that.

I promise I'm impressed by your use of the word "panacea". You see how the user you quoted in this post ended his statement by saying, "Is there a way to provide a logcat or something we can do to help finding the mistake?" seen HERE? He understands how the system works. A fellow member offered a suggestion on a workaround which anecdotally worked for him. You found this suggestion to be useless because crafting a fancy retort of, "this is not how things should be" makes more sense than actually finding a workaround. You just wanted people to know that your time is more valuable than the other people who come here to help make LOS better and you can't be bothered to try a method that inconveniences you to that degree. Your response was a complaint, pure and simple which is what caused me to derail in the first place and this thread doesn't need your justification of why you don't have the time to help out. The user wanted a solution and another user provided their anecdotal response for making it work. In order for you to know if his solution was correct you would have to try it. This wasn't a requirement though, you don't have to run the latest build every release on your device. You certainly don't need to upgrade if you have a stable system. The issue isn't that you needed to update--it was that you wanted to update. Otherwise you wouldn't have had a "backup" to fall back on.

You use Linux? It doesn't show...

Please don't write me a story and ask me not to respond; especially when you're in the wrong. It inconveniences me and makes my responses longer than necessary.

With all your experience in fixing Windows and Linux I had assumed you could pull a logcat from a device. You could install Android Studio and use their tools since the command line doesn't appear to be your strong suit. If you spent half as much time Googling how to get a log on boot as you did crafting this long response to me you would have left me with nothing to respond to other than, "thank you for providing important feedback on the issue." But here, let me Google that for you:

1.) http://androidforums.com/threads/logcat-of-bootloop.926896/ Solution is part way down the page from the moderator "Scary Alien"

2.) https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=47172724&postcount=3

3.) https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/151449/get-logs-before-logcat-has-started-in-a-bootloop

You're probably going to just see these links and realize you don't have the downtime on your device to actually help the developers out, but I sincerely hope I'm wrong. I'd do it for you, but I can't reproduce your issue.