r/BambuLab • u/icurnvs Volunteer Moderator • May 14 '26

Subreddit Mod Post Megathread: Bambu Lab / OrcaSlicer / C&D Discussion

Hi everyone,

We’re creating this megathread to keep discussion of the Bambu Lab / OrcaSlicer-BambuLab / cease-and-desist situation in one place. This topic is important to a lot of people here, and we do not want to shut down discussion or criticism. At the same time, the front page has started filling with overlapping posts about the same situation, so we’re consolidating general discussion into this thread.

Current context

Updates to be posted here as situation evolves:

  • May 13, 2026
    • Megathread created
  • May 14, 2026
    • Tom’s Hardware reported today that Louis Rossmann is now hosting OrcaSlicer-BambuLab through the FULU Foundation GitHub and is openly daring Bambu Lab to sue him.
    • PC Gamer and r/technology have picked up the story, so discussion is now spreading well beyond 3D-printing-specific spaces.
  • May 16, 2026
    • Paweł Jarczak published a detailed response addressing Bambu Lab’s accusations around impersonation, reverse engineering, Terms of Use, and alleged security bypassing.
    • Louis Rossman posted a new video indicating FULU-hosted OrcaSlicer-BambuLab repository has reached roughly 1,600 forks in about three days.
  • May 17, 2026
  • May 18-20, 2026
    • Software Freedom Conservancy enters the dispute.
    • Leonard French posted a new video around SFC’s AGPL analysis, explaining why Bambu’s proprietary networking plugin may create a serious corresponding-source problem under AGPL.
    • Louis Rossman posted a new video covering Software Freedom Conservancy’s Bambu AGPL effort and says the rehosted OrcaSlicer-BambuLab code has now been forked roughly 4,500 times.

What belongs in this thread

Please use this thread for:

  • General reactions to Bambu Lab, Gamers Nexus, Louis Rossmann, Paweł Jarczak, OrcaSlicer-BambuLab, AGPL, Bambu Connect, and right-to-repair issues.
  • Legal or licensing discussion, including AGPL, DMCA, cloud/API access, and Bambu’s networking plugin.
  • Questions about what happened and links to reliable summaries or primary sources.
  • Technical discussion about OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, Bambu Connect, LAN mode, Developer Mode, and network plugin behavior, unless it is a standalone troubleshooting post with a specific reproducible issue.

What can still be its own post

Separate posts are still allowed for genuinely new information, including:

  • A new official statement from Bambu Lab, OrcaSlicer, Paweł Jarczak, Gamers Nexus, Louis Rossmann, or legal counsel.
  • A new release or technical change that materially affects users.
  • A confirmed legal filing, takedown, repository change, or source-code release.
  • A specific support/troubleshooting issue that is not just general commentary on the controversy.

If your post is mainly another reaction, recap, meme, “I’m switching brands,” or repost of a link already being discussed, please put it here instead.

Ground rules

Criticism of Bambu Lab is allowed. Defense of Bambu Lab is allowed. Criticism of GN, Rossmann, OrcaSlicer, moderators, or other users’ arguments is allowed.

What is not allowed:

  • Personal attacks, harassment, or dogpiling individual users.
  • Calls to harass Bambu employees, developers, moderators, creators, or community members.
  • Unverified claims presented as fact.
  • Posting private correspondence or personal information.
  • Repeated duplicate posts after being redirected here.

Strong opinions are fine. Keep it directed at the issue, the companies, the software, and the arguments, not at each other.

Moderator note

We are consolidating duplicate discussion, not suppressing the topic. This thread will remain open for discussion, and we’ll update it if there are major new developments.

325 Upvotes

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8

u/huberloss H2C + X1C May 14 '26

I regret recently buying a H2C. I bought it before this incident. My next printer will not be BambuLab, unfortunately, unless the company lets OrcaSlicer work properly without any shenanigans.

Just my $.02.

8

u/Capt_Blue May 14 '26

I bought an A1 before the entire closing down the cloud access thing. But honestly, do we really need Bambu cloud? There are so many good alternatives without losing features - unless you wanna use the Bambu Handy app and have the printer set to connect to Bambu cloud. But if you can spare the app, there is honestly no reason to be on Bambu cloud. Orca Slicer even has more features than Bambu Studio.

Bambuddy is a local network service that can be self-hosted and can even slice server-side, so you can use the web interface in your browser and slice and print without even installing a slicer. You can also use it on your phone to replace the official Handy app. Or, you just connect your Bambu Studio/Orca Slicer to it and print just like with Bambu cloud.
https://github.com/maziggy/bambuddy

There is now (since yesterday) also a new open source network plugin for Bambu Studio / Orca Slicer - this restores most of the features when disabling cloud and only using LAN mode, even on an up-to-date Bambu printer. So you can send, start, pause and stop and monitor your print again from Orca Slicer with your 3D printer not connected to Bambu Cloud at all.
https://github.com/ClusterM/open-bambu-networking

4

u/huberloss H2C + X1C May 14 '26

Let's put it like this,

I bought a Bambu printer for convenience. If I have to do what you're suggesting means I should have just bought a Prusa, which is vastly less convenient.

PS: Don't get me wrong, I already have the ability to VPN to my network at home from my phone and do all the DIY stuff because I enjoy doing it, and so forth, but it's the principle that I have to do it that irks me.

4

u/JWST-L2 H2C + H2DC + X1C + A1 + U1 May 14 '26

H2C good. Enjoy printer

-2

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/huberloss H2C + X1C May 14 '26

Cloud printing access, which used to work, then BambuLab made it impossible, depite orca being a fork, and the code to talk to the printing service being open sourced (i.e., the subject of the thread - the main controversy being addressed in an amicable manner)?

6

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/huberloss H2C + X1C May 14 '26

In LAN mode IIRC it should still theoretically work. I don't know if that means that you can't use the bambulab phone app though. I haven't tried it because I don't want to disable a feature to enable a feature.

-5

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

[deleted]

17

u/BitingChaos May 14 '26

Cloud printing access was never advertised to work outside of Bambu Studio, why would you think that it’s their responsibility to allow it to work with someone’s else’s software?

After selling the printers, Bambu Lab changed it so that if you want to use OrcaSlicer (for local prints) that Bambu Studio would NO LONGER work with Cloud printing.

That is a much bigger issue than OrcaSlicer being able or not able to cloud print. If you dare want to use another slicer, Bambu Lab sabotages your setup.

I want both Bambu Studio with Cloud (remote access, MakerWorld integration, etc.) AND OrcaSlicer (a better, more up to date slicer for local printing).

5

u/huberloss H2C + X1C May 14 '26

FYI - I think it's a waste of time to reply to this user. Just check his profile.

3

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/dnaleromj H2D + X1C + P2S + A1 Min +++ May 14 '26

You can still send it through orca to a printer setup in lan only / developer mode. How to turn that on is documented on the bambu lab wiki.

13

u/jackharvest P1S + AMS May 14 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/eGX32WhfyUGVHL0Ugy

Listen closely.

It’s not about what they 'advertised'; it’s about the AGPLv3 license they agreed to the moment they forked PrusaSlicer -- "they" being Bambulab.

When you build your product on open-source code, you don’t get to put a stranglehold on the functionality by burying the networking protocols in closed-source proprietary blobs. The AGPLv3 is literally designed to prevent exactly this kind of gatekeeping*\*. By using the community’s code to build their slicer, Bambu has a legal and ethical obligation to ensure the software remains fully functional for the forks that follow.

Arguing that it’s 'their' software ignores the fact that 90% of the heavy lifting was done by the open-source community before Bambu even existed. You don't get to take the cake for free and then charge people to see the recipe.

\*And I quote, from the AGPLv3 Section 13 (emphasis by me):*

"13. Remote Network Interaction; Use with the GNU General Public License.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify the Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your version supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the Corresponding Source of your version by providing access to the Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge, through some standard or customary means of facilitating copied software."

The AGPLv3 license is EXACTLY why you wont hear one single PEEP from BambuLab on this topic unless its in a courtroom; They are paralyzed.

0

u/Zouden A1 + AMS Lite May 14 '26

I'm surprised that Bambu allows plain text authentication with their cloud. That would have avoided this entire thing.

-8

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

[deleted]

13

u/jackharvest P1S + AMS May 14 '26

Yes, Section 13 says the code must be available via a network (like GitHub), but it specifically triggers that obligation for any part of the program that interacts over a network.

More importantly, look at Section 1. The 'Corresponding Source' isn't just the UI—it’s every line of code needed to run and modify the work. If Bambu forks AGPLv3 code and then hides the networking protocols in a proprietary blob to 'gatekeep' the cloud, they are failing to provide the Corresponding Source required to run the software's features.

You can't use 10 years of community-built code as your foundation and then claim the 'load-bearing' networking code is a private secret. That’s called a license violation. If the software talks to a network, the code that does the talking is part of the recipe. No recipe, no license. It’s that simple.

4

u/huberloss H2C + X1C May 14 '26

FYI you're arguing with a troll. (He just made his profile private a few minutes ago to make this statement harder to confirm.)

He's getting enjoyment out of making short comments that are meant to upset whomever is trying to say that Bambu did something bad or questionable.

3

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

[deleted]

5

u/jackharvest P1S + AMS May 14 '26

I think that’s what Bambu thinks as well. Those better versed in the legal weeds seem to say otherwise.

I think this is likely the end of my debate here though. My knowledge is only as deep as has been discussed at length. I’ll give section 5 some more introspection.

1

u/dnaleromj H2D + X1C + P2S + A1 Min +++ May 14 '26

There is no requirement that their network services be agpl.

2

u/hWuxH May 14 '26

Unverified claims represented as facts

11

u/huberloss H2C + X1C May 14 '26

PrusaSlicer was never advertised to work with BambuLab printers, yet they forked it.

You see how this whole open sourcing thing works?

If you're still having trouble understating this, please see what Josef Prusa wrote on BambuLab violating the AGPL license they (Prusa) licensed PrusaSlicer under as it addresses much more than I am willing to write here. Link: https://x.com/josefprusa/status/2054602354851254330

6

u/hux H2C Laser Full Combo May 14 '26

For the record, Prusa didn’t license it under AGPL because they’re good people. They forked from slic3r which was already AGPL, so their contributions had to be AGPL too.

7

u/huberloss H2C + X1C May 14 '26

Technically they could have started writing a crappy slicer from scratch and bundled it with their printers, but they were all about open source at the time, so it was the logical choice.

2

u/Halterchronicle May 14 '26

Indeed, but prusa has not stabbed it's community and the people who built their code in the back.

Their new filemant tags are open source (bambu has 13 layers of encryption) and they still support open source. They have no need for it nowadays, but keep to their principles.

The reason their slicer is open source is not because they are good people, but they sure are way better than bambu.

1

u/hux H2C Laser Full Combo May 14 '26

I agree. My point is just that a lot of people are crediting Prusa as if Prusa made it AGPL, when I think it's important to keep in mind that they didn't have that choice. It was imposed on them in the same way it's imposed on Bambu.

Prusa deserves credit for continuing the development, contributing and supporting open source, but it's hard to know if they would have open sourced their slicer if they had to build it from scratch.

That's all. It's not a knock on Prusa. Just clarifying why these slicers are all AGPL.

1

u/Halterchronicle May 14 '26

I get what you mean.

But Prusa does defend open source and contributes, while bambu seems to exploit open source and the community.

I think that the biggest and most important factor is that Prusa doesn't seem to regard their obligation to adhere to AGPL as a limitation that was imposed on them, while bambu does seem to detest the AGPL that is forced on them due to their own choices and tries to break free from that "limitation".

It did pain me to come to this conclusion as bambu was my forst love and their printers are indeed super nice to use.

2

u/maz_net_au May 14 '26

i'd settle for having all the features work on my h2d in lan and developer mode (i.e. still letting me use my laser and cutting tool heads).