The Truth About Joey Huab

Pattern of Cherry-Picking and Cover-Up: The Havoc OS Case (2020)

Date: February 12, 2020

Context: Developer Alex Cruz from DirtyUnicorns ROM exposed that Evolution X (Joey Huab aka "Stallix") had cherry-picked code from Havoc OS without proper attribution, and then attempted to cover it up by deleting commit comments.

DirtyUnicorns Developer Alex Cruz's Exposure

Havoc OS Developer's Post

Analysis: This incident from 2020 demonstrates Joey's long-standing pattern of:

• Taking code from other ROMs (in this case, Havoc OS's modified OnePlus Gallery app)
• Not providing proper attribution
• Attempting to hide evidence by deleting commit comments when caught
• Making dismissive responses ("cancel culture") instead of addressing the issue professionally

Evidence: Alex Cruz decompiled both APKs (the original modded one from Havoc OS and the one Joey used in Evolution X) using apktool, compared them with Beyond Compare, and proved they were identical — demonstrating clear cherry-picking without attribution.

Result: After being publicly exposed with undeniable technical evidence, Joey was forced to apologize and amend the authorship. However, this 2020 incident shows this behavior has been ongoing for years.

Hypocrisy: Complaining About Cherry-Picking While Doing It Himself

Date: May 8, 2024

Context: Joey Huab posted an announcement complaining about another ROM cherry-picking "his" commits in the same order — despite the fact that he is not the original author of those commits and cherry-picking is a standard practice in open source development. He acts as if he personally created the work being cherry-picked.

The Reality: Joey himself cherry-picks commits from other developers without maintaining proper authorship attribution. When this was pointed out with evidence of three commits showing improper authorship handling, he responded not with facts, but with harassment.

My Response: Exposing the Hypocrisy

Context: I (Alexander Brunswig) responded to Joey's complaint by rewriting his announcement to highlight the irony - using Joey's own words against him to show his hypocrisy about authorship.

Perfect Irony: I used Joey's exact complaint structure but applied it to Joey's own practices, highlighting the hypocrisy of complaining about "stealing authorship" while cherry-picking commits without proper attribution.

GPL License Violation: Replacing Copyright Headers

Context: In a GPL-licensed repository, Joey Huab actively replaced the copyright header from "DerpFest" (the original source) to "crDroid" to hide where the code actually came from. This is not just improper attribution - it's a violation of the GPL license which requires proper attribution and copyright notices to be maintained.

The Commit: In the Evolution-X packages_apps_ColumbusService repository, Joey changed the copyright header from the original DerpFest source to crDroid, actively hiding the true origin of the code.

Why This Matters:

• GPL Violation: The GPL license explicitly requires that copyright notices be preserved. Replacing them is a license violation
• Active Deception: This isn't just failing to add proper attribution - it's actively changing attribution to hide the source
• Deliberate: Joey knew where the code came from (DerpFest) and intentionally replaced it with a different project name (crDroid)
• Pattern of Behavior: This shows a systematic approach to hiding the origins of cherry-picked code

The Irony: DerpFest is a legitimate Android ROM project that contributes original code to the community. Joey not only took their work but actively tried to erase their contribution from the copyright headers.

Extreme Harassment: Posting Family Photos with Sexual Captions

Context: After being confronted with evidence showing Joey's hypocrisy about cherry-picking (three commits proving he doesn't maintain proper authorship), instead of addressing the technical facts, Joey responded by posting personal photos from my Telegram account — including a family photo of me with my wife and sister — with an extremely inappropriate and sexually offensive caption.

⚠️ Content Warning: Screenshot contains family photos used in harassment with sexual caption

Analysis: This is not a technical disagreement or professional discourse. This is targeted harassment designed to humiliate and intimidate someone who presented factual evidence. Instead of defending his practices with facts, Joey chose to:

• Violate privacy by taking personal photos from Telegram
• Post family members' photos publicly without consent
• Add sexually inappropriate captions involving family members
• Attempt to humiliate rather than engage with legitimate criticism

Result: This behavior demonstrates that when confronted with evidence of his improper practices, Joey resorts to extreme personal harassment rather than professional discussion. The fact that another user immediately suggested reporting this post shows the community recognizes this as inappropriate behavior.

Baseless OnlyFans Accusation

Context: Following the exposure of his cherry-picking hypocrisy, Joey Huab attempted to discredit me by falsely claiming I have an OnlyFans account, linking to a channel named "DerpFans" and making inappropriate sexual insinuations.

Analysis: This is another clear example of Joey Huab resorting to personal attacks and baseless accusations to deflect from legitimate criticism. Instead of addressing the evidence of his improper development practices, he attempts to shame and discredit the critic with false claims about their personal life. The fact that another user responded with "Would have been better if he showed this much dedication to his ROM" shows the community sees through these tactics.

GitHub Commit Message Personal Attack

Context: After being confronted about improper authorship in his commits, Joey Huab force-pushed his commits and embedded a direct personal attack into the public GitHub commit message itself.

Archived Evidence: This commit message has been preserved by the Wayback Machine and can be viewed at: https://web.archive.org/web/20240524151758/https://github.com/Evolution-X/packages_apps_Evolver/commit/7104505017b02b7020bab642a4d396d72dad43b7

Analysis: This represents an unprecedented level of unprofessional behavior. Joey Huab not only failed to address the technical criticism about improper authorship, but he:

• Embedded personal attacks directly into public GitHub commit messages
• Used profanity and offensive language in professional development repositories
• Made the harassment permanent and public in the project's commit history
• Demonstrated complete disregard for professional development standards

Impact: This behavior is not only unprofessional but also damages the reputation of the entire Evolution X project. It shows that when confronted with legitimate technical criticism, Joey resorts to the most extreme forms of personal harassment, even going so far as to embed attacks in the project's permanent commit history.

Aggressive Donation Requests for Personal Reasons

Context: While collecting donations ostensibly for ROM development (work done by other developers through cherry-picking), Joey Huab aggressively solicited money for personal reasons, including financial support for his girlfriend.

Analysis: This evidence demonstrates that while Joey was soliciting donations under the premise of supporting ROM development, he was also using the donation platforms for personal financial needs. This raises serious questions about:

• Transparency in how donation money is actually used
• Whether donors understood their money would go to personal expenses rather than development
• The ethics of requesting donations for "development work" that was largely cherry-picked from others
• Mixing personal financial requests with project funding

Impact: When combined with the evidence that Joey contributed 0 original lines of code while cherry-picking 1234 commits from multiple developers, these aggressive personal donation requests become even more problematic. Donors may have believed they were supporting original development work, when in reality the money was being used for personal purposes while the actual coding was done by developers from other ROMs.

Silencing Criticism: Banning Users Who Expose Cherry-Picking

Context: A user named "Gaba" shared a GitHub screenshot showing recent commits to Evolution X, where 8 out of 11 commits were from neobuddy89 (a developer from another ROM) and 3 from Axion lead developer. Gaba commented that "Joey doesn't deserve a penny" and was immediately banned from the community.

Analysis: This incident demonstrates a clear pattern of silencing legitimate criticism:

• Gaba provided factual evidence from GitHub showing 8/11 commits were from another developer (neobuddy89)
• The comment questioned the ethics of collecting donations for work done by others
• Instead of addressing the evidence, Joey (or moderators acting on his behalf) banned the user
• This creates a chilling effect where community members fear retaliation for pointing out facts

Impact: By banning users who present factual evidence of cherry-picking, Joey maintains an echo chamber where legitimate criticism is suppressed. This allows him to continue collecting donations while the community remains unaware of the extent to which the "work" being funded was actually done by developers from other ROMs like neobuddy89 and the Axion team.

Internal Confirmation: Co-Developer Anierin Bliss Exposes Joey's Donation Manipulation

Context: Anierin Bliss, who is listed as a co-developer of Evolution X (though actually only a device maintainer), publicly confirmed that Joey Huab exploited his personal financial situation to collect donations from users, sharing private details about Anierin's life with 50,000+ users.

Why This Matters:

• Internal Confirmation: This isn't just external criticism - it's Joey's own co-developer confirming the manipulation
• Exploitation of Team Members: Joey used Anierin's personal struggles (financial situation, ex-girlfriend, grandfather's situation) to emotionally manipulate users into donating
• Scale of Manipulation: Joey shared these private details with 50,000+ users to create a "poor me" narrative
• Pattern Validation: Anierin confirms the same pattern we've documented - using others' situations to collect money
• Team Member Speaking Out: Even Joey's own team members have called out this behavior

Analysis: This evidence is particularly damning because:

• It comes from within Joey's own development team, not external critics
• Anierin is confirming that Joey exploited his personal hardships for financial gain
• The scale (50,000 users) shows how widespread this manipulation was
• It validates the pattern of using others' situations to collect donations

Impact: When even your own co-developer publicly calls out your donation manipulation tactics, it demonstrates that Joey's behavior is so problematic that it alienates his own team members. This adds significant weight to all the other evidence of improper practices documented on this website.

Additional Confirmation: Anierin goes even further, directly accusing Joey of:

• Constant manipulation of the Evolution X community
• Financial exploitation for his own personal benefit
• Collecting all donations that were meant for the project
• Systematic pattern of using the community for personal gain

Why This Is Devastating:

• This is Joey's own co-developer making these accusations publicly
• Anierin uses the word "constantly" - indicating this wasn't isolated incidents
• He confirms that donations meant for the project went to Joey personally
• This validates every claim about donation misuse documented on this website

Paywalling Open Source Testing: Charging $5 for Bug Fixes

Context: Joey Huab announced that he would charge users $5 as a "one time payment" to join the testers group, which would include early builds with fixes, priority issue reporting, and spam avoidance.

Why This Is Problematic:

• Charging for Others' Work: Joey is charging $5 for access to bug fixes that he didn't create - they're cherry-picked from other developers who did the actual work
• Double Monetization: Not only does he collect donations for work done by others, but now he's charging users to access those same fixes
• Paywalling Bug Fixes: Charging users for access to fixes that should be freely available in an open source project
• Elitist Testing: Creating a paid tier for testing, which should be open to anyone willing to help
• Priority Support: Giving paying users priority over non-paying users for issue reporting
• Anti-Open Source: This goes against the principles of open source software where testing and bug fixes should be freely accessible
• Spam Solution: Using payment as a spam filter instead of proper community moderation

Analysis: This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of open source principles. In legitimate open source projects:

• Bug fixes are freely available to all users
• Testing is open to anyone willing to contribute
• Issue reporting is handled based on severity, not payment status
• Community moderation is used to prevent spam, not payment barriers

Impact: This creates a two-tier system where users who can afford to pay get better treatment and earlier access to fixes, while others are left with delayed updates and lower priority support. This is fundamentally incompatible with open source values and community-driven development.

More Hypocrisy: Complaining About Cherry-Picking While Doing It Himself (Part 2)

Context: Joey Huab made an announcement in the Evolution X channel complaining about another ROM called CherishOS cherry-picking the same commits that Joey had picked, sharing a screenshot comparing their commit histories. He wrote "they should literally rebrand to AOKP at this point" - ironically using "AOKP" (Android Open Kang Project) as an insult, when AOKP was actually a legitimate project that didn't "kang" others' work.

The Irony:

• None of These Commits Are Joey's: Joey is complaining about CherishOS cherry-picking commits that he himself didn't author - they're all cherry-picked from other developers
• Joey Cherry-Picks Too: Joey is complaining about CherishOS cherry-picking commits, but he does the exact same thing
• Misunderstanding AOKP: Joey uses "AOKP" as an insult, but AOKP (Android Open Kang Project) was actually a legitimate ROM project that didn't "kang" others' work - the name was ironically meant
• Cherry-Picking is Normal: Cherry-picking commits while maintaining proper authorship is a standard and acceptable practice in open source development
• Double Standards: Joey criticizes others for doing what he himself does regularly

Analysis: This demonstrates Joey's complete lack of self-awareness and understanding of open source practices:

• He cherry-picks commits from other ROMs without proper attribution (as documented throughout this website)
• He then complains when other ROMs cherry-pick commits (with or without proper attribution)
• He uses misunderstood terminology ("AOKP") to insult others
• He acts as if he has exclusive rights to commits that were originally created by other developers

Impact: This shows Joey's pattern of hypocrisy - criticizing others for practices he engages in himself, while also demonstrating his misunderstanding of open source development norms and terminology. It's particularly ironic that he's using "AOKP" as an insult when AOKP was a legitimate project that actually contributed original work to the Android community.

Hostility Towards Developers Whose Code He Uses: The YAAP Hypocrisy

Context: Joey Huab (@Flex) and Evolution X community members express hostility towards YAAP (Yet Another AOSP Project) developers, claiming they think "their code is superior" - while Evolution X actually uses YAAP code through cherry-picking.

The Irony: YAAP's lead developer has contributed thousands of lines of original code to the Android community. YAAP commits can be found in virtually every major ROM, including LineageOS (which Evolution X is based on). Meanwhile, Joey has contributed 0 original lines of code.

Analysis: This screenshot reveals a troubling pattern:

• Joey mocks and dismisses developers who actually write original code
• Evolution X users get banned from other communities for defending Joey's cherry-picking practices
• They criticize YAAP developers for thinking "their code is superior" - yet Evolution X cherry-picks that same code
• Joey calls YAAP developers "clueless" despite the fact that YAAP contributes original work that benefits the entire community, including Evolution X

The Reality:

• YAAP lead developer: Thousands of original lines of code, contributions to LineageOS and the entire Android community
• Joey Huab: 0 original lines of code, 1234 cherry-picked commits from developers like YAAP

Impact: This demonstrates that Joey not only takes credit for others' work but actively shows hostility towards the very developers whose code he depends on. Instead of gratitude or acknowledgment, he expresses contempt for developers who are actually contributing to the ecosystem he exploits.

Ido Ben-Hur - YAAP (Yet Another AOSP Project)

Role: Lead Developer at YAAP, CS student, hobbyist programmer

Original Project: github.com/yaap

Impact: YAAP's code has been integrated into numerous ROMs including LineageOS (which Evolution X is based on). Thousands of original lines of code benefiting the entire Android community.

💝 Support Ido's Work: Sponsor YAAP on GitHub

LineageOS & AOSP Contributors

Foundation: Evolution X is built on top of LineageOS, which itself is built on AOSP (Android Open Source Project).

Original Project: github.com/LineageOS

Impact: The vast majority of the codebase comes from thousands of developers contributing to LineageOS and AOSP. LineageOS is a free and open-source operating system for mobile devices with 5.1k followers and nearly 3000 repositories.

💝 Support LineageOS: Support LineageOS on Patreon

Why This Exposé Exists

My name is Alexander Brunswig, and I'm an Android ROM developer. I created this website to document the truth about Joey Huab's practices and protect other developers and donors from being misled.

What Happened:

• I noticed a pattern of commits in Evolution X where Joey Huab was cherry-picking code from other developers without maintaining proper authorship attribution (known as "kanging" in the ROM community)
• I documented this with evidence and brought it to the community's attention, showing specific commits where authorship was incorrect
• Instead of addressing the technical concerns or fixing the attribution, Joey responded with extreme personal harassment
• This harassment included posting my family photos publicly with sexually inappropriate captions, making false accusations about me having an OnlyFans account, and even embedding personal attacks in public GitHub commit messages

The Purpose of This Website:

• Transparency: Document the evidence of improper attribution practices spanning from 2020 to 2024
• Protect Donors: Inform people that their donations are going to someone who has contributed 0 original lines of code while collecting $4,000+ for work done by others
• Support Real Developers: Redirect support to the developers who actually write the code, like YAAP, LineageOS, and countless others whose work is being exploited
• Stop Harassment: Show that silencing critics with extreme personal attacks is unacceptable in the open source community
• Community Awareness: Help the Android ROM community understand the difference between legitimate open source development and taking credit for others' work
• Protect the Community: I love Android ROM development as a hobby, but Joey is slowly destroying it. Developers are leaving the community because they don't want to see their work monetized within minutes—sometimes immediately after they push code publicly. This demotivates genuine developers and harms the entire ecosystem

This Is Not About Cherry-Picking:

Cherry-picking code is a normal and acceptable practice in open source development. The issue is improper attribution (kanging) - taking others' code and not maintaining proper credit to the original authors. When combined with aggressive donation requests and harassment of those who point it out, it becomes a serious ethical problem.

All Evidence Is Documented:

Everything on this website is backed by screenshots, archived GitHub commits, and publicly verifiable data. I encourage you to verify the information yourself using the provided links and sources.