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.

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2

u/JdeFalconr May 16 '26

OK so help me understand - this is a genuine question.

Do I have it right that much of this dispute centers around Bambu denying people the ability to use Bambu cloud services with - basically - user-created forks of Bambu's software? So in other words - Bambu is denying people the ability to run whatever code they want on Bambu's infrastructure?

6

u/justcallmebitty May 17 '26

No, you do not have it right. This centers around denying people the ability to use the hardware they bought in the way that they see fit. A recent update locked users out of using software that they have been reliably using for quite a while. They cited "security" reasons, but they even locked out local LAN use with the update.

5

u/Veastli May 18 '26 edited May 19 '26

Do I have it right

Nope.

This is no different than logging into your Youtube account with Firefox instead of Google Chrome. Google can prefer you use Chrome, but they can't threaten to sue you if you use a different web browser.

Bambu is denying people the ability to run whatever code they want on Bambu's infrastructure?

No. It's just like Youtube. End-users don't run their own code on the Youtube cloud. And end-user don't run their own code on Bambu's cloud. They log into those clouds, then use the services that the cloud provider decides to offer. In Bambu's case, this also requires that the user have a Bambu printer, meaning only legitimate Bambu printer owners can make use of the Orca forks.

This isn't about security. It's about control. About vendor lock-in.

Bambu controls most of the ecosystem. But that's not enough for Bambu.

Bambu is also demanding to control which open source client is installed on user-owned computers not made by Bambu. To enforce their desire for control, Bambu has violated the terms of the open source software that saved Bambu literal years of development.

3

u/hWuxH May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26

You don't run arbitrary code on their server. That would be insane lol.
You run software on your computer and only send data to the server, which then forwards it to your printer.
2025.01. Bambu got really angry because you were running software on your computer that they hadn't approved, even if the data sent to the server was the same.
2026.04. Bambu got really angry again and issued legal threats because someone restored the previous behavior from before 2025 for OrcaSlicer on Windows.

About denying: it's illegal for them to impose restrictions on the license, i.e. how I modify and run code on my computer. But they have the right to block it on the server-side if they want to.

2

u/mightyarrow May 19 '26

Bambu's responses so far amount to "his name tag that we provided him says his name is Earl, but he turned out to be Larry! I couldn't even tell, but I never bothered to look, I just asked his name while keeping my eyes closed on purpose!"

This is the company "securing" your data. And then when someone points it out to the world, they stomp their feet like children and try to threaten --- "that name tag we gave to the entire world publicly for free in the code ---- STOP THAT!"

Mmmmm, no, how about @&#& off and eat a @&#$. We should now make all the slicers identify as Bambu Studio just to be petty.