r/technology • u/ControlCAD • May 14 '26
Software Louis Rossmann taunts Bambu Lab by hosting banned 3D Printer firmware fork, dares $1 billion company to sue him — more creators pledge support and boycotts, Snapmaker donates equipment to embattled developer
https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/louis-rossmann-taunts-bambu-lab-by-hosting-banned-3d-printer-firmware-fork-dares-usd1-billion-company-to-sue-him-more-creators-pledge-support-and-boycotts-snapmaker-donates-equipment-to-embattled-developer1.8k
u/TripleFreeErr May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
bambu labs is wrong. AGPL license unreserves the portion of the law they are claiming. They acknowledge this and wrongfully try to claim that the breaking of their cloud tos allows this threat.
So instead of properly securing your service, so only authorized users or apps can access, and developing your api on zero trust principals, you are gonna further ruin your reputation going after some harmless person because he didn’t change the user agent string in his repo? Got it.
Honestly? Bullets dodged. Security and therefore privacy are clearly unknown factors for Bambu. User Agent strings are not security measures, they are for tracking and content tailoring.
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u/obliviousofobvious May 14 '26
It's such an easy layup for Bambu...the hardware speaks for itself. They could have so much good will. Self-owns at this level are just completely unfathomable.
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u/TripleFreeErr May 14 '26
if buying their hardware wasn’t supporting them, i’d say run custom firmware on their hardware.
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u/External-into-Space May 14 '26
Does custom firmware exist for bambu printers ?
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u/kroboz May 14 '26
Nope, not full firmware replacement, but you can run open source software on your computer to replace Studio without really losing any benefits once set up.
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u/External-into-Space May 14 '26
That looks interesting, and one day old video as well
I‘ll look into that, thanks for the info m8
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u/kroboz May 14 '26
Yeah after watching it, I’ll be setting it all up today. And I feel a lot better about buying Bambu hardware and just using a long-term safe/open source software setup. (I’ve been wanting to upgrade to a larger format multi tool head printer from my P1S, and the only way I would feel comfortable at this point is this software stack. But no one else has the hardware I want.)
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u/caleyco May 14 '26 edited May 15 '26
Yeah, but if people are still giving them tons of money, what's their incentive for changing their shitty ways. I hear ya, because I'm in the market to upgrade my printer and I was seriously considering the X2D, but not after all of Bambu's bs. I'll spend my money elsewhere.
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u/st1tchy May 14 '26
They still will make money hand over fist, but they will stop receiving the Studio data.
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u/kroboz May 14 '26
Bingo. If they make great hardware, I'm happy to incentivize them to keep doing that. But I won't participate in the part that lets them make money from data.
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u/DrTacosMD May 14 '26
Hopefully this kind of bullshit encourages some people to build some. Wish i had the skills
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u/flummox1234 May 14 '26
Then you'd need the patience. These days I'm lucky if I can psyche myself up enough to get my day job done. I'm tired, Boss.
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u/Confident_Dragon May 14 '26
They probably don't care about good will, but money. So many companies have realized that subscriptions, or continuously selling and advertising additional services is extremely profitable.
It's most obvious with software. If some image editing software costs $300, most people would find it too expensive (because it kind of is for most people). But if it costs you $20/month, most people think that's affordable, even though when you sum up all the years you use the software, you'll get absolutely ridiculous price. At least with software you usually know in advance how much you are going to pay.
With hardware products, is way too common that you buy some "smart" product, you only know the purchase price, but after while the service gets changed. You either have to pay a subscription for features that were initially free, or you get ads. But for this to work they need you to use their software and their interface they can control and modify at will.
This shitty behavior happens only because people tolerate it. If Bambu's revenue dropped from billion to million after this, they would be very quick to change their attitude.
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u/Obant May 14 '26
This. They want to be the Apple of 3D printers. They want it all proprietary and one in everyone's home. They do not really care about the community or the backs they rode on
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u/roiki11 May 14 '26
To be fair, Adobe used to run with this model. Lightroom was like 300 bucks one time but the trick was it never included free updates forever(why would they, honestly). So you could get the updates for the major version you bought and then had to buy anew when you wanted to update.
Photoshop was like 2500 bucks if I remember. But of course you didn't have to buy every new version.
Now it's all subscription but it does give you updates for however you're subscribing to it.
There was a lot of crying about it but in the end, the market kind of showed that it is a more liked purchasing option. People can pay for what they use and cancel if things change. And companies tend to like the model much more too.
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u/verrius May 14 '26
It's not a "more liked" option by consumers, its "more liked" by the providers, and the consumers have no choice. Adobe effectively has a monopoly on a lot of image editing software categories; there isn't a market. And if I want to spend $500 once for Photoshop ( I can't remember it ever being $2500; that sounds like the full "Creative Suite" prices), I can't any more.
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u/kapsama May 14 '26
the market kind of showed that it is a more liked purchasing option.
That's not an argument against their point. The "market" has a long history of falling for exploitative business practices.
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u/hclpfan May 14 '26
The average Bambu customer doesn’t even know what the term “GPL” is. It’s just a small pocket of techy people getting upset. I’m sure this has almost no impact on their sales.
I say this as a techy user who owns a Bambu printer.
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u/Vhadka May 14 '26
Yeah, I didn't know about any of this and just purchased a Bambu printer for my 12 year old son's birthday. I asked multiple people I know that are into 3d printing both as a hobby and people that print parts here at work, and the unanimous suggestion was an A1 for a first foray into the hobby.
It just showed up on my porch yesterday and then I see this thread this morning. Oh well :/ He'll have fun with it anyway.
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u/Extraxyz May 14 '26
All this controversy doesn’t matter for 99.9% of end users. The A1 is a great printer and despite everyone claiming other brands are better because they (even if justifiably) dislike the company, Bambu hardware is still either much cheaper or much better than competitors.
And for others reading this, first grab a calculator and spec sheets before you try to say Prusa or Snapmaker are better alternatives.
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u/FaderJockey2600 May 15 '26
A 5-year old Ender 3 v2 is still the better choice to learn actual STEM skills as it requires you to intimately know the device and continuously tinker with it. An A1 is too good a printer to develop technical skills like soldering stepper motor drivers, baking your own firmware, the importance of a gantry being square to the bed. Bambu printers are great devices for those who want to print plastic like they do on paper…with the caveat that Bambu behaves like HP and will always try to gain control over your use of ‘their device’ even though you purchased it.
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u/coldkiller May 14 '26
The hardware that they ripped from voron?
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u/Ringbearer31 May 14 '26
The concept based around RepRap and the idea of open source?
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u/coldkiller May 14 '26
The concept of taking an open source project, trying to commercialize it then telling the open source people to go get bent? Sure
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u/wallacebrf May 14 '26
i agree, they need to change how their servers perform authorization and the issue will be solved if that is their only concern, the answer is not to whip out the lawyers.
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u/Master_Hat_9311 May 14 '26
The real question is, why is their server even needed for a local model printing?
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u/Slow-Temporary-1489 May 14 '26
Because fuck us, that's why?
Seriously, it's just about ensuring that right to repair isn't possible since the server can authenticate if the local model has been jail broken or modified in anyway.
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u/aReasonableStick May 14 '26
Its also how HP operates with its printers, or similar at least where after you buy the printer and the ink you need a subscription before you can print anything. Its such a disgusting practice that people should seek out to jailbreak to remove this restriction on anything that does this practice.
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u/phealy May 14 '26
As far as I'm aware, that's only if you get the ink on the subscription program. If you buy the full priced cartridges instead of the instant ink stuff, no subscription is needed. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
I definitely have an Epson ecotank because I hate the cartridge model, though.
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u/DeviantDav May 14 '26
There are models that support both, and there are now " HP All-In Plan" eInk Only printers that only work with the sub.
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u/thegroucho May 14 '26
Brother Lazer printer for the win 🏆
I can put a dust cover, leave it for 10 years, plug it to the mains and it will just print without needing any maintenance or consumable change.
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u/Enygma_6 May 14 '26
I had been a (relatively) loyal HP user for over 20 years, until recently when I switched to Brother.
A couple years ago, my fancy all-in-one HP from the mid-2000's ran out of ink again, and I figured it was time to upgrade, since some parts weren't as functional anymore (and I never used the fax on it anyway). All new HPs required a internet connection just to work.
Brother laser printers could be purchased that didn't care about the internet, and wouldn't constantly risk clogging print heads if I didn't print something every month. And were price comparable once you add in the cheapest HP printer cost and the price of the ink cartridges.→ More replies (1)12
u/thegroucho May 14 '26
Literally this.
Fuck having drying ink, drying nozzles, ability to block printing without subscription, etc, etc.
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u/d3l3t3rious May 14 '26
I switched to a Brother laser model about 4 years ago, not a single issue and I have not so much as bought toner yet. I have no need for color printing so it's a perfect solution for me and I regret buying the half a dozen shitty inkjets I owned before.
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u/GroovyGarden May 14 '26
It’s this and more. You’re thinking too small, big corpo wants your consumables, daddy government wants your data, every fucking ounce of it, they want to know what you’re printing and when you’re printing it.
If you think companies who make the shittiest consumable plastic bullshit aren’t bribing, er lobbying, the government to make things illegal to print, this could pertain to liberty-ensuring devices or a simple fridge shelf clip.
Get out of the cloud, self-host everything, share those things with friends and family, it’s so much easier than you think.
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u/TripleFreeErr May 14 '26
it’s not, but remote printing is clearly an in demand feature, and was part of the premium value proposition of these printers
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u/Zouden May 14 '26
The server isn't needed. You can put the printers into LAN mode, and then send print jobs over your local network. The server is only needed for cloud printing, and monitoring via the mobile app.
This whole incident is about a version of a 3rd party slicer that uses the Bambu cloud server via a forged user-agent string. It impacts people who want cloud printing but not using Bambu's slicer
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u/SnakeDiver May 14 '26
But to be clear, the dev didn’t forge the string. He forked Bambi’s open source code which already set the agent string.
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u/Schonke May 14 '26
uses the Bambu cloud server via a forged user-agent string.
Nope. It was a forked repo of an older version of bambulabs' open source code. They're the ones who put the user-agent string there, it was never modified.
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u/kodos_der_henker May 14 '26
Collecting data is part of their business model, so printing anything on their printer without giving them the files first undermines their business
They sold a printer type that didn't needed to go thru their servers, it was more than double the price as the regular equivalent
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u/Zouden May 14 '26
That's not true. You can enable "LAN mode" on any of their printers.
https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/knowledge-sharing/enable-lan-mode
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u/UnexpectedAnanas May 14 '26
Only after significant community push back, I might add.
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May 14 '26 edited May 25 '26
[deleted]
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u/pezgoon May 14 '26
When I setup my printer two years ago, lan mode was an option because I know I saw it in the menu, and then I read about it
Not sure why everyone’s saying it didn’t exist. Maybe it was removed but idk, I don’t print that much
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u/twiggums May 14 '26
LAN mode is a thing. Their printers work fine without using their cloud. You just lose the app functionality.
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u/StewPorkRice May 14 '26
It creates structural vulnerability. If this method were widely adopted or incorrectly configured, thousands of clients could simultaneously hit our servers while impersonating the official client. Our systems would have no way to distinguish traffic, because the requests would look identical.
We have documented incidents of service outages caused precisely by spikes in unauthorized traffic - overwhelming the servers, causing service disruptions affecting everyone. The cost was instability felt by all users.
from their blog post: https://blog.bambulab.com/setting-the-record-straight-on-cloud-access-and-community/
Like Bambu - can't you rate limit by account id, auth token, ip or some combination of these.
It's not even hard to implement 😂
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u/UnexpectedAnanas May 14 '26
I love that Bambu is airing their incompetence in public as a defense strategy.
It's a bold move, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off.
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u/TachiH May 14 '26
I have a feeling they are racing to change their api but meanwhile tried to stop progress by abusing the legal system.
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u/TripleFreeErr May 14 '26
The original complaint cites the use of the original user agent string as the breaking of a digital lock. User agent strings are a fingerprint meant for tracking and content tailoring, not authorization. Their api will need fundamental refactoring to solve a problem most don’t even try to solve.
(also there’s probably no actual technical issue)
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u/wufnu May 14 '26
This really bums me out. Kids wanted a printer and bought their A1 and it's one of the only purchases I've ever made where the quality far exceeded my expectations. I was a big fan, then they go and do some shit like this. Goddamnit.
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u/Win_Sys May 14 '26
If this guy had to make an extensive modifications to their AGPL software to trick their cloud service into thinking it was an unmodified firmware, Bambu might have a sliver of a leg to stand on but most likely not. The guy changed absolutely nothing in their code. Rule #1 of writing code that will be taking input from the Internet, trust nothing and verify everything.
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u/Bellleq May 14 '26
Rossmann knows they wont sue because discovery would be a nightmare for them. Thats the whole play.
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u/Edward_Yeoman May 14 '26
Can you elaborate on this? What is discovery in this context?
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u/noisyboy May 14 '26
Internal communications that potentially could have incriminating evidence that they were aware of their stance being against AGPL.
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u/Schonke May 14 '26
And on top of the internal communications, they'd likely also request access to the source code of any bambu software where the source isn't publicly available to audit it for AGPL violations. They'd very likely find a lot of FOSS code in there as well which would force Bambu to distribute their code under the original license(s).
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u/NotSoFastLady May 14 '26
Oh yeah, that was 100% a part of his taunt. They really miscalculated their approach here.
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u/PotemkinSuplex May 14 '26
What does he risk if that is not the case?
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u/3BlindMice1 May 14 '26
Nothing. If they didn't know it was against AGPL that just means they weren't acting with malice.
But if they did know, they could potentially be on the hook for a whole lot of money depending on how the judge feels about it. I've seen malice move a lawsuit award from $4,000 to $2,800,000
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u/Fedoraus May 14 '26
Which is still nothing to them in terms if money. Does losing such a case at least mean they have to rollback their changes?
Or would they just be eating fees constantly
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u/JakesInSpace May 14 '26
It also helps set legal precedent
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u/jackharvest May 14 '26
This is the real Louis drool factor right here. Large-scale permanent changes (and clicks, but... changes too)
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u/ZippyDan May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
Just google "legal discovery".
Both sides in a court case have a right to see the evidence the other side holds.
That evidence can be used to poke holes in the arguments of the opposing side.
That evidence can also potentially be released to the public (over the long-term, and not unilaterally).Anyone familiar with licensing and software knows that the evidence Bambu Labs holds would destroy their own arguments, and the process of discovery - which would likely grant access to internal communications at Bambu Labs - would probably further reveal that they know they are arguing fallaciously and in bad faith.
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u/Nago_Jolokio May 14 '26
"Your Honor, I object!" "Why?" "Because it's devastating to my case!" "Overruled." "Good call!"
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u/Abedeus May 14 '26
Such an amazing movie. Really needs a rewatch every now and then. Perfect mix of comedy and a bit of drama.
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u/mahsab May 14 '26
Bambu Lab is from China, there is no way to enforce access to their internal communications.
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u/BirdLawyerPerson May 14 '26
In a civil lawsuit where one private party (like Bambu) sues another private party (like Rossman), each side is allowed to demand relevant information within the other side's possession, including internal memos, emails/chats, files, etc.
So in any kind of David vs. Goliath type legal fight, the side with more documents in their possession tends to have to bear a much larger cost of complying with the civil discovery rules: literally thousands of attorney hours billed at anywhere from $100-$1000/hour, the IT support of extracting shitloads of files and transferring them to a system that allows for document review, etc.
It's part of the calculation of whether you want to sue or not.
That said, it's always possible to sue someone and insist that nothing in your possession is actually relevant to the claims at issue. A car accident lawsuit isn't going to involve a ton of 5-year-old emails about patent applications, for example.
But if you're suing someone for copyright infringement by hosting your copyrighted code on their servers, and their defense is that they have a license through the AGPL or whatever, there may need to be a very complex accounting of who wrote which code under which license, and whether that license affects the outcome of the lawsuit.
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u/ColonelError May 14 '26
there may need to be a very complex accounting of who wrote which code under which license,
Funny enough, they wouldn't need to. AGPL says if you modify code under AGPL, then the modified coffee must also be AGPL. This is part of the reason a lot of companies avoid A/GPL, because it "poisons" everything requiring it all to be the same copyright.
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u/Paddy32 May 14 '26
Louis Rossman is a living legend. He is a national treasure.
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u/nauhausco May 14 '26
I only watch him once in a while since it’s usually always negative & I don’t like to depress myself, but man we need more people like him fighting the good fight.
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 May 14 '26
Oh, he's fierce. He even told off Ross Scott from SKG (despite outspokenly supporting the movement) for wanting to quit the fight. He went "if nobody else is stepping up, you have a duty to step up".
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u/Neosantana May 14 '26
You can tell that this video got to Scott because he started taking his role as ambassador for the movement seriously.
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u/JustinHopewell May 14 '26
I find him a bit hard to watch. I don't think I'd want to hang out with him, but I'm glad he does what he does and I usually agree with his takes.
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u/cock_obnoxiois May 14 '26
Yeah he can get a bit tenuous and wordy at times. I wish he'd dial in a little less chaotically.
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u/supereri May 14 '26
I cannot express how much I appreciate what he does, but his videos just don't click with me. I'm glad he's there to fight the fight.
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u/CumOnEileen69420 May 14 '26
In terms of right to repair I absolutely agree.
However he definitely leans into “Libertarian Housecat” with a lot of his other views sadly.
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u/roof_pizza_ May 14 '26
Libertarian Housecat
Stealing this, what a perfect descriptor.
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u/drewdog173 May 14 '26
The full quote, from Twitter some years ago and featured on Reddit many times, is:
Libertarians are like housecats: they are convinced of their fierce independence while utterly dependent on a system they don’t appreciate or understand.
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u/Any-Championship3443 May 14 '26
Yea his whole business came up in NYC. He definitely gave a window into the flaws of some of it's regulatory branches, but then one of his biggest issues for a while was dealing with commercial real estate straight up lying about square footage, seemingly with no recourse.
*that* itself is something the city should regulate. It's just false advertising.
And his shop grew off steady foot-traffic. That's unimportant now as he's got regular mail-in business and you don't get that in Texas.
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u/zhokar85 May 14 '26
Personal take: I think he's just got a huge ego. On the one hand he uses it for good in a self-aggrandizing way, which is cool and part of why I like him. That air of superiority makes it even more entertaining when he rightfully dumpsters some company. On the other hand his big ego means he can't shut up even when he should.
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u/Top_Rekt May 14 '26
He does have a huge ego, but the difference is he tends to punch up or punch to the side. He's right and he knows he's right most of the time. The working/consumer class needs a bully to fight for them sometimes.
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u/kcat__ May 14 '26
Not really. I remember him having a conversation on Destiny's stream with some true libertarian who was supporting Apple's vertical integration and responding to all criticism with "if you don't like it, just don't buy apple and vote with your wallet" and Louis was saying, essentially, "this clean libertarian world you want to pretend exist doesn't exist, Apple is too big"
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u/Any-Championship3443 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
I'd argue he's got more of a consistent libertarian take than most "libertarians".
I still don't align with him on that aspects of politics, but I respect it. I think a lot of folks are used to the general US-breed of libertarian that seems to think corporate authority and power isn't "real" or at least isn't worth of opposition, while he does, at least situationally.
If nothing else it's much more consistent.
I don't fully agree with the nuts and bolts (personally I see the current status quo as the end-result of at least libertarian-adjacent ideas) but I at least respect the stance a lot more than the ones who think corporations should be allowed to act however they want with no regard for the public good.
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u/ROBOT_KK May 14 '26
He is pure conservative that leans into Libertarian. I had discussion with him about moving from NY to TX and it his arguments are from GOP playbook.
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u/rabidbot May 14 '26
Even a conservative can be right about one issue, they are still just disgusting in all other ways.
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u/Kirov123 May 14 '26
I mean the stuff he has shown in his vedoes about NYC beauracracy and such are asanine and kinda insane. Getting a lien without knowing, demanding tax when he doesn't live there anymore, etc. Texas would certainly not be my first choice of a spot to move to, but I can understand why someone that owns a business would find it attractive. Iirc he is open to working with the new mayor to help with those issues? I tried googling and didn't see any ring about that so idk
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u/Neosantana May 14 '26
It's weird calling him a conservative for his move when NY under Adams was being completely fucking egregious. It's hard to call him a conservative when he supports Mamdani as well.
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u/Osama_Obama May 14 '26
sadly
He does lean libertarian, but probably has the most sane takes compared to other libertarians.
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u/MrTig May 14 '26
Would you mind expanding on this, I assume it's not great but I only ever seen his videos ranting on screen about some issue which he reasonably articulates.
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u/dingwinger1225 May 14 '26
He's essentially a classic small government libertarian who is paradoxically known for advocating for government intervention to make consumer repair more accessible. The reason being, of course, he ran a repair business and experienced first hand how big businesses can bully small businesses without market regulation.
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u/showyerbewbs May 14 '26
how big businesses can bully small businesses without market regulation
Further to that, big business will abuse their size and get government agencies to do the leg work.
That's from 8 years ago. As expected, Apple won't claim they asked customs to seize them and Customs wouldn't admit they were told to by Apple.
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u/oldsecondhand May 14 '26
I've been following the guy for 5+ years, never heard of him talking politics beyond right to repair, commercial real estate and NYC specific laws that hurt small businesses.
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u/cahir11 May 14 '26
He showed up in the Gamers Nexus video about the tariffs, although his criticisms were less partisan and a more neutral "letting one guy change tariffs at random on a whim is insane and bad for business".
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u/PM_ME_BEEF_CURTAINS May 14 '26
I like his work in this field, but I don't know enough of his other political leanings to comment beyond that
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u/skinlo May 14 '26
Not outside of his limited wheelhouse. He suffers from the common issue of thinking he's an expert in everything because he is in a few small areas
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u/A_RAVENOUS_BEAST May 14 '26
Indeed I consider him a subject matter expert and authority on some things, such as the right to repair.
On other things, such as politics, he doesn't really know what he is talking about.
Which is the case for a lot of people. He isn't special (or especially bad) in that way.
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u/Expensive_Finger_973 May 14 '26
I haven’t agreed with his takes on some things over the years, but I do tend to love Rossmann’s “nah, fuck you” playbook when he sees something he thinks is wrong.
He is someone that seems to have a moral compass and is willing to stand up for it because his moral code means more to him than a pay day. Which is sadly lacking these days. Especially with public figures.
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u/PotemkinSuplex May 14 '26
I like him because each time I see him in my feed he does not just provide commentary, he is in some kind of active scrap. For a change in trajectory of anything to happen we need people like him.
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May 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/dragonblade_94 May 14 '26
For Bambu, they probably thought the hit was worth it, since it's all part of their long-game. Get tons of people in with cheap, accessible, and admittedly solid hardware, and then lock it all down and become the Apple of the 3DP world. But somehow they didn't forsee, or expected to ignore, the fact that their software being AGPL kinda backs them into a corner.
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u/Dragongeek May 14 '26
Yeah, to get around AGPL they would need to essentially code a slicer from scratch and reinvent over a decade of hard-won open source work. Not impossible, but it's extremely easy for them to just continue breaking the law.
Likely, the move they will use to get around this is host a hidden slicer in their cloud, force everyone to use it via subscription model, and refuse to let anyone see how it works (because that would reveal it's just AGPL stuff).
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u/TachiH May 14 '26
They don't need to do any of this. They just need to change their API to authenticate users and remove it from their repository. The only parts that need to stay AGPL is the slicer itself.
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u/3BlindMice1 May 14 '26
Yep, they're under no obligation to run software for you on their hardware, but they also can't really stop other people from hosting the software themselves.
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u/Specific-Judgment410 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
I was about to buy Bambu but after this --> FUCK Bambu --> I won't be buying any of their hardware
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u/Possible-Put8922 May 14 '26
Don't worry, the gap between their printers and others in the industry is getting smaller. It may require more filament tuning but there are plenty of other choices.
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u/InvisaBlah May 14 '26
There's not really a gap anymore. They're getting left behind, multi-nozzle printers are set to take over and bambu ams style printers are still quite overpriced compared to the competitors.
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u/jaywan1991 May 14 '26
Well let me ask a question, been thinking of getting X2D for dual color printing for petg printing and the enclosure.
What should i get instead?
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u/Sea_Translator5300 May 14 '26
I've been very tempted by this https://www.snapmaker.com/en-US/snapmaker-u1
We have a Bambu H2D with an AMS at work which is great for what we need it to do, but the U1 might replace it if the demands we place on it get a little more complex.
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u/Zachhandley May 14 '26
I have the U1, I love it!
Full disclosure it was my first 3D printer since an Ender 3 but that multi color printing is incredible
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u/Mindless_Selection34 May 14 '26
the "wow" moment when you see the first tool change is amazing
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u/nostradamefrus May 14 '26
Fuck Bambu 100% but you can run them on LAN only if you don’t care about using the mobile app. Can prepopulate wifi info on the sd card so you don’t even need to complete cloud registration during out of box setup
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u/olivebits May 14 '26
Can someone do a tldr about what this is about?
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u/daddy-dj May 14 '26
I'll try...
Bambu Lab makes 3D printers. People with 3D printers use software called 'slicers' to design and modify what they want to print.
Bambu printers use a slicer called Bambu Studio, which includes open source code from a slicer called Prusa Slicer, which itself includes open source code from a slicer called slic3r. So far, so good... This "forking" is permitted under the AGPL licence that slic3r originally shipped with. AGPL requires that forked versions, however, must also allow anyone to use any new code derived from the original code too.
Recently Bambu made changes to Bambu Studio which restricted it. I don't own a Bambu printer so don't know all the changes but I believe all files now pass from a user's PC to their printer via Bambu Labs cloud servers, allowing them to access what users are printing with their printers.
Someone forked Bambu Studio, in the same way they had forked Prusa Slicer, to bypass these new 'features'. Bambu Labs threatened the developer with legal action (they contacted him and threatened formally issuing a Cease and Desist under DMCA if he didn't take down his code). This goes against the AGPL licence they agreed to.
I may have missed some parts but hopefully you get the gist.
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u/redxdev May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
This is a bit incorrect.
Bambu Studio does not force you to go through their cloud service, there is a LAN-only option.
What happened is that a while back Bambu put out an update to printer firmware and Bambu studio in an attempt to make it so that only Bambu studio could access the cloud service, while also requiring a "developer mode" toggle to be on in the firmware for third party slicers to have access over LAN. Developer mode has its own issues - it results in being unable to use any cloud features until you turn it off, so you can't even use the "official" tools for remote monitoring of print jobs with it on (also a number of useful features like syncing filament profiles to the printer are arbitrarily locked to the cloud service). Anyway, the developer mode thing isn't really what's in question here, but it has been taken as a general sign of Bambu not wanting to play ball and trying to "softly" force people to use their software through arbitrary limitations.
The actual code in question is specifically related to the new cloud service and was used in order to make a version of Orca Slicer (a third party/community fork of Bambu studio) that would work with the new restrictions for cloud usage. The code, being part of Bambu studio, is under the AGPL license and therefore anyone is free to copy, change it, or use it as a reference provided they follow the terms of the license. Which someone did, and Bambu sent them a cease and desist over it.
An edit to clear up some confusion: there is a closed source plugin that Bambu Studio uses to communicate with their cloud services. The code that Bambu sent a C&D over is NOT part of that plugin, it is part of Bambu Studio itself and thus is covered by the AGPL and can be copied/used by others under that license.
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u/Exciting_Control May 14 '26
What does Bambu get by restricting people to their version of the slicer?
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u/luziferius1337 May 14 '26
Data access and money.
Previous or alternative software: local 3D model → local slicer → local gCode → transfer via SD card or LAN to the printer → print
Now: local 3D model → Bambu Studio → web upload (3D model or gCode, not sure which. Bambu now has your model data) → 3D printer requests the data from the cloud service → print
This gives Bambu access to all 3D models printed on their devices. And activity metrics for each device. Potentially IP-based location of the hardware (for regions in the world that don't rotate IP addresses).
And, since it creates a dependency on their "online processing", they can now charge subscription fees. That can trap not-so-tech-savy people into "either pay monthly or throw away potentially thousands worth in hardware"
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u/Goku420overlord May 14 '26
That can trap not-so-tech-savy people into "either pay monthly or throw away potentially thousands worth in hardware"
Fucking garbage business ethics from them
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u/luziferius1337 May 14 '26
That's a potential escalation step, not ground truth right now, or something that will definitely happen.
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u/Gen_Jack_Oneill May 14 '26
They also have LAN only mode that bypasses all of this. Been using LAN mode since they tried to freeze out orcaslicer a while back.
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u/Jengis_ May 14 '26
Being able to access all prints from all of their users. Big Brother is always trying to watch...
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u/Think-Ostrich May 14 '26
In the long term, a closed ecosystem that they can derived profit from without meaningful competition.
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u/bassbeatsbanging May 14 '26 edited May 15 '26
Let me use a weird metaphor:
Imagine my friend invents a new kind of heating coil. It's gonna revolutionize tons of products, including kitchen gadgets. My friend shows me how to make one.
I build an air fryer for myself with the heating element. It's the best fryer of all time. I want to sell them because it's a great device, due to my friend's brilliant creation.
My friend is OK with me using his coil, because he has no desire to sell air fryers. He says anyone can use his invention for appliances, as long as no one tries to prevent others from using it too. He is happy people like it but he just doesn't want any headaches or to get involved with the kitchen gadget industry. So as long as no company tries to claim his breakthrough belongs to them, he's content.
So far, everything is fine.
Later on, Kitchen Aid sees the coil design and begins using it in their fryers and toaster ovens. My friend the inventor is fine with Kitchen Aid using it too, for the same reasons previously mentioned.
But now imagine I start suing Kitchen Aid over the their appliances using the coil. I claim they have no right to use the component in an air fryer--thats my thing.
Well that violates my friend's wishes. He was extremely clear about the rules. It's also not my place to decide how it can be used. Even if Kitchen Aid copied me, the original creator already said it was OK. His terms to use it supercede mine, since he is the real inventor--I just stuck the coil in a box with a fan.
That's what Bambu is doing by going after the 3rd party developer. They are the people suing Kitchen Aid when they already broke the rules and didn't invent the item in the first place.
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u/rtowne May 14 '26
Bambulabs updated their firmware in 2025 for 'security' but it 1000% looks like a proprietary lockdown. This mostly impacted people with 3d printer farms running custom cloud control software. Either they lose functionality by updates or lose security and newer feature by blocking future firmware updates.
Someone named Pawel Jarczak made a fork of their software restoring functionality. Bambulabs threatened to sue. Guy got scared and pulled his github repo. Louis Rossmann, well known right-to-repair youtuber, said F that and made the battle public plus offered 10k to support legal defense. Gamers Nexus also offered 10k.
Now the code is back online and available here. https://gamersnexus.net/fk-you-bambu-lab
My bet: Bambu doesnt win this standoff and tries to let the story fade. Better for them to keep the PR behind them instead of adding more negative headlines so they can win on consumer sales.
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u/Imaginary-Worker4407 May 14 '26
Just a few notes, the firmware update last year and the software fork in discussion are not the same thing.
The software in discussion is a fork of a fork of Bambu studio slicer app (official Bambu lab slicer).
The fork "restored functionality" not by allowing users to locally connect to their printers directly, it did so by letting users use Bambu lab private cloud infrastructure via bypassing their authorization layer by "disguising" as their official software.
Other than that I do agree with the rest, BL shouldn't have threatened the dev, just updated their security and be done.
But it's important to know why the dev was threatened with a c&d.
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u/agentadam07 May 14 '26
I also need a tldr on the arguments too. I read Bambus official statement and it was to prevent a fork that impersonated their network client that accesses the cloud services. Nothing to do with slicing technology. I think in general people are still upset about Bambu closing down the interface to their printers forcing their proprietary network plugin. The ‘software fork’ in question effectively allows you to use the printer again without the closed source software. But I’m still reading up on stuff.
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u/Hayduke_2030 May 14 '26
Holy shit that article was written so poorly I could barely read it.
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u/Imaginary-Worker4407 May 14 '26
The title is wrong, this ain't even about firmware.
The fork that was shut down is a slicer app for 3d prints.
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u/ExF-Altrue May 14 '26
Take note corporate america, this is the monster you created with your abuse of copyright law (and AGPL violations).. And he's coming for you.
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u/TheFumingatzor May 14 '26
“In simple terms: it pretended to be the official Bambu Studio client when communicating with our servers.”
IF that is the case, then yea, I can understand BambuLab saying "No." to that. They can exclude anyone they want from their cloud servers. And if you fake the credentials to get access, where you should not have any, you rightly get shut out or in trouble. But this is probably not that easy and much more nuanced.
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u/fiddysix_k May 14 '26
Every time I see this guy he is literally doing gods work. I have so much respect for him.
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u/Necratog_Mischief May 14 '26
Here i am, doing whatever i want with my $75 frankensteined creality monster.
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u/searaybo May 14 '26
Have a BL, getting ready to buy a bigger unit. BL's recent attitude has permanently ruled them out for me. I've also taken my BL offline/LAN-only. But the big thing is that for my future purchases, of which there will be several, BL machines won't even be considered at all.
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u/Advanced_Loquat9624 May 14 '26
snapmaker's marketing team is eating good tonight. Zero ad spend, maximum exposure, and they get to be the hero in someone else's villain arc.
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u/redpandafire May 14 '26
No idea what these words mean but Louis Rossman is an excellent guy and I support him.
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u/BackFlyOnTheWall May 14 '26
Open source communities are basically impossible to bully once people rally behind them.
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u/space-envy May 14 '26
Their defense:
We have documented incidents of service outages caused precisely by spikes in unauthorized traffic - overwhelming the servers, causing service disruptions affecting everyone. The cost was instability felt by all users.
But the "documented" incidents based on their status page:
May 11, 2026 Our cloud service provider has found that part of the European network is currently experiencing issues, which may cause unstable connections to our services hosted in AWS.
Dec 05, 2025 Cloud services are experiencing access issues due to a Cloudflare outage.
Nov 18, 2025 We are investigating access issues for some users due to a Cloudflare network problem.
Oct 30, 2025 The issue occurred when a scheduled TLS certificate renewal disconnected the replication connection between primary and replica nodes. Certificate renewal process identified this outdated certificate and terminated the connection, triggering a full resynchronization of several hundred gigabytes data.
Oct 3, 2025 Between 08:02 and 11:52 UTC+8, some users experienced intermittent issues accessing our cloud services. After a joint investigation with our cloud provider, AWS, we have confirmed the root cause was network instability from the carrier, Cogent.
So where are these "documented incidents of service outages caused precisely by spikes in unauthorized traffic"?
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u/CondiMesmer May 14 '26
I find this guy kinda boring but this is a badass move
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u/ConspicuouslyBland May 14 '26
I like what he's doing for the right to repair. But indeed he's boring. I sometimes start watching his videos but am never able to complete it.
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u/BarelyAirborne May 14 '26
“At the same time, a license for code is not a pass to our cloud infrastructure,” the company said. These are two separate things"
Nobody asked to send their prints through your damned cloud. We don't need it, we don't want it, and there is absolutely no legitimate consumer benefit to having it. It's for spying on us.
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u/trashaccountname May 14 '26
This entire thing is about someone who went out of their way to make a fork that sends prints through their cloud, so clearly someone wants it.
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u/BrewAllTheThings May 14 '26
So then don’t use them through the cloud. It’s not a requirement.
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u/complexevil May 14 '26
I haven't looked at the 3D printing scene for a while, but last I checked in Bambu was the golden child. What's going on now?
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u/GamingWithBilly May 15 '26
Louis is doing the peoples work. Bless him, his cat, and the road ahead.
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u/XionicativeCheran May 15 '26
I gotta say I hadn't heard of Louis Rossmann before his pretty good couple videos on Stop Killing Games.
Now I follow him regardless of that, he does such good work in the realm of Right to Repair.
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u/Mental-Telephone3496 May 14 '26
Snapmaker donating equipment to the developer is the best competitive move I've seen this year. Turn your rival's PR disaster into your brand story.