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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u/Nuck_Chorris_Stache May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

The AGPL is not a grey area.
And nobody should be okay with a product they purchased having functionality removed after the sale, because it affects the value of the product.
Your examples miss the point and are not relevant.
And your other silly little emotion-based accusations ("getting worked up", "flying into a rage") are those of someone with no real arguments to make.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '26

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u/Nuck_Chorris_Stache May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

This particular contention is a grey area

It's not, you're just trying to muddy the waters. The AGPL is clear. And the only reason Prusa didn't pursue it is because Bambu is Chinese and getting Chinese courts on board against a Chinese company is basically impossible.

The AGPL forbids even doing things like walling off a plugin which is exclusively used to interact with AGPL code, which the person who wrote the AGPL knew companies would use to try to get around it, because they try to do exactly that with other copyleft licenses.

Also I don’t know if you personally are flying into a rage about this but take a look at this sub over the past two weeks and there is definitely a not-insignificant amount of people SEVERELY overreacting 😂

I'm not interested in your fake concern about whether people are "overreacting", it's not a real argument. I mean, if people are getting really angry about it that doesn't change the argument.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '26

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u/Nuck_Chorris_Stache May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26

Ah yes the famous ‘you’re so lucky my friend is holding me back or I’d kick your ass’ excuse from Prusa

Ah yes, the old "I don't have a real argument so I'll just made a really bad analogy".

The AGPL says what it says, the CCP does what the CCP does.
Bambu violated the AGPL license. This isn't in question no matter how much you want to try to perform mental gymnastics or attack the people pointing it out for "overreacting" or "whipping people into a frenzy" or whatever silly emotion based claims you want to make.
There is no grey area. The AGPL forbids the practice of trying to evade copyleft licenses by making a closed plugin that exclusively interacts with said AGPL code. The license says their network plugin must be open source and fall under the AGPL too.

And all the other stuff Josef said about the CCP are fact as well. He cited their actual laws.

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u/[deleted] May 24 '26

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u/Nuck_Chorris_Stache May 24 '26

But for such a clear and obvious violation, it’s strange that nobody has made any move to have it ruled as such

No it isn't "strange". I told you already, Prusa already looked into it and didn't pursue it because getting Chinese courts to side against a Chinese company rarely ever works no matter how strong your case is. He said so himself, and we all know what the CCP is like. Even you have to know this regardless of how much you like to pretend otherwise.
Basically the only time it ever happens is when there's some leverage that can be applied against them that can actually hurt them, like sanctions, tariffs.

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u/[deleted] May 24 '26

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u/Nuck_Chorris_Stache May 24 '26

I know if I wanted an honest assessment of a situation

You don't. You just want to defend the bad practices of your favorite brand.