Managing Network Bonding Devices
- WHAT?
Combine two or more network interfaces into a single bonded device.
- WHY?
Network bonding can increase bandwidth and/or provide redundancy.
- EFFORT
Approximately 15 minutes to read and understand the content.
- REQUIREMENTS
Network connection
Basic understanding of networking and IP addresses
Existing network interfaces to include in the bonded device
Switch support, depending on the bonding mode
This article is about network bonding. To configure network teaming, see Managing network teaming devices.
1 Configuring network bonding #
Network bonding combines two or more network interfaces into a single bonded device to
increase bandwidth and/or provide redundancy. You can configure network bonding with YaST
or by manually creating ifcfg files. The behavior of the bonded device
is configured using bonding modes.
1.1 Requirements #
Network connection
Basic understanding of networking and IP addresses
Existing network interfaces to include in the bonded device
Switch support, depending on the bonding mode
1.2 Restrictions #
- Do not split bonds over multiple switches
In most hardware setups, all network interfaces in a bonded device must be connected to the same switch. For more information, consult your switch vendor documentation.
- IBM POWER: Bonding modes 5 and 6 (
balance-tlbandbalance-alb) unsupported by ibmveth The bonding drivers in
tlbmode andalbmode send Ethernet Loopback packets with both the source and destination MAC addresses listed as the Virtual Ethernet MAC address. These packets are not supported by Power firmware. Therefore, bonding modes 5 and 6 are unsupported by ibmveth.- Bonding and virtualization
Bonded devices are made up of multiple network interfaces. In most configurations you should only configure bonding in the host. Virtual interfaces to guests are then created as a bridge with the bonded devices, simplifying guest creation and deployment.
It is possible, but not recommended, to configure bonding in a guest. When configuring bonding in a guest, you must assign multiple interfaces to the guest and configure the host without bonding. You must also be careful to configure the host and its network bridges so that you do not mix bonding in the host and guests.
1.3 Bonding modes #
The following bonding modes are available:
- ()
Packets are transmitted in round-robin fashion from the first to the last available interface. Provides fault tolerance and load balancing. Requires switch support. Certain switches might fail with this mode.
- ()
Only one network interface is active. If it fails, a different interface becomes active. Provides fault tolerance. This is the default mode. No specific switch support is required.
- ()
Traffic is split between all available interfaces based on the number of interfaces included in the bonded device. Provides fault tolerance and load balancing. Requires switch support. Certain switches might fail with this mode.
- ()
All traffic is broadcast on all interfaces. Provides fault tolerance. Requires switch support. Certain switches might fail with this mode. If possible, use mode instead, or use this mode to provide sniffing capability by connecting each member of the bond to a different switch or device.
- ()
Also called LACP. All interfaces in the LACP group must share the same speed and duplex settings, and must be connected to the same switch. Provides fault tolerance and load balancing. Requires
ethtoolsupport in the interface drivers, and a switch that supports and is configured for IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic link aggregation. If your switch supports it, this is the preferred mode.- ()
Adaptive transmit load balancing. Provides fault tolerance and load balancing. Requires
ethtoolsupport in the interface drivers. No specific switch support is required, but certain switches might fail with this mode.- ()
Adaptive load balancing. Provides fault tolerance and load balancing. Requires
ethtoolsupport in the interface drivers. No specific switch support is required, but certain switches might fail with this mode.
Consult your hardware manual to check which modes your switch supports.
For a more detailed description of the modes, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/networking/bonding.txt.
1.4 Configuring network bonding with YaST #
Start the graphical version of YaST, or run the command
yast2to start YaST in text mode.Select › .
Select and change the to .
Select to open the menu.
In the tab, select how to assign an IP address to the bonded device:
: Automatically assign a dynamic IP address. The default setup is to use DHCP with both IPv4 and IPv6. You can change these settings if required.
: Manually assign an , , and .
Do not use . This option is only used for individual network interfaces that will be added to a bonded device.
In the tab, select the network interfaces to include in the bonded device by activating the check boxes.
From the drop-down box, choose a bonding mode. The default mode is
active-backup.Do not remove
miimon=100. Without this parameter, data integrity is not checked regularly.Select .
If you are prompted to adapt the existing configuration for bonding, select .
Select to create the bonded device.
Select or press F9 to close YaST.
1.5 Configuring network bonding with ifcfg #
Create a configuration file named
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-bond0. If you need more than one bonded device, give them ascending numbers. For more information, seeman ifcfg,man ifcfg-bonding, and/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg.template.In the configuration file, define the following parameters:
STARTMODE=MODE1 BOOTPROTO=IP_ASSIGNMENT2 IPADDR=IPv4_ADDRESS3 IPADDR6=IPv6_ADDRESS3 BONDING_MASTER="yes"4 BONDING_SLAVE0="FIRST_DEVICE_NAME"5 BONDING_SLAVE1="SECOND_DEVICE_NAME"5 BONDING_MODULE_OPTS="mode=BONDING_MODE6 miimon=100"7
Defines how the bonded device starts. Use
autoto start the interface automatically on every reboot, or usemanualto prevent the interface from starting automatically.Defines how IP addresses are assigned to the bonded device: Use
staticto manually assign static IP addresses, or usedhcpto automatically assign dynamic IP addresses.Specifies the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for the device, if you are manually assigning
staticIP addresses.Identifies this interface as a bonded device.
Specifies two or more network interfaces to include in the bonded device.
Defines the bonding mode for this interface.
Specifies how often, in milliseconds, each bond member is inspected for link failures.
Example 1: Bond configuration #STARTMODE=auto BOOTPROTO=static IPADDR="192.168.1.2/24" IPADDR6="fd00:deca:fbad:50::2/64" BONDING_MASTER="yes" BONDING_SLAVE0="eth0" BONDING_SLAVE1="eth1" BONDING_MODULE_OPTS="mode=802.3ad miimon=100"
Back up the existing
ifcfgfiles for the bond member interfaces, in case you need to restore them later.Adjust the
ifcfgfiles for both bond member interfaces so that they contain only the following content:BOOTPROTO='none' 1 STARTMODE='hotplug' 2
Check if everything is included in Wicked's configuration file:
>sudowicked show-configStart the bonded device:
>sudowicked ifup all bond0If you need additional debug information, use the option
--debug allafter theallsubcommand.Do not use
systemctlto start or stop the bonded device. Always use thewickedcommand.Check the status of the bonded device:
Get the state of the bonded device from Wicked:
>sudowicked ifstatus --verbose bond0Get the state of the bonded device and the bond members:
>ip addr
Each command shows a slightly different view depending on your needs.
If you make changes to the ifcfg-bond0 file after starting the device,
reload its configuration with the command wicked ifreload bond0.
2 Enabling hotplugging for network bond members #
In some network environments (such as High Availability), you might need to replace a bond member interface with a new one, for example, if a network interface has a fault. However, before you can replace the interface, you must configure the networking setup to recognize when a new device is added.
You can enable hotplugging either manually or with YaST.
2.1 Requirements #
A bonded device is already configured.
2.2 Enabling hotplugging for network bond members with YaST #
Start the graphical version of YaST, or run the command
yast2to start YaST in text mode.Select › . The tab shows the existing devices. If devices are already configured in a bond, this is stated in the column.
Select one of the bond members, then select . The menu opens.
Switch to the tab.
Under , select . A dialog box opens.
In the dialog box, choose the option, then select .
Make sure that is set to
On Hotplug.Select to return to the menu. When you select the bond member now, the bottom pane shows the device's details, including the bus ID.
Select to confirm your changes.
Select or press F9 to close YaST.
2.3 Enabling hotplugging for network bond members manually #
Check that the bond members are configured with
BOOTPROTO=noneandSTARTMODE=hotplug. If you configured the bonded device with YaST, this is the default setting.List the hardware information for the network interfaces. You can use
grepto show only the information required for this procedure:>sudo hwinfo --netcard | grep -E "SysFS BusID|Device File"SysFS BusID: 0000:00:17.0 Device File: eth0 SysFS BusID: 0000:00:19.0 Device File: eth1For each bond member, make a note of the associated
SysFS BusID.Open the file
/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules. For each bond member, change the value ofKERNELSto match theSysFS BusIDfrom the previous step. For example:SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", KERNELS=="0000:00:17.0", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0" SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", KERNELS=="0000:00:19.0", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth1"
This configures the
udevrules to match the device by bus ID instead of by MAC address, allowing the bond to detect a new device in the same slot but with a different MAC address.
2.4 Summary #
When one of the bond member interfaces is removed from the system, the kernel removes it from
the bond automatically. When a new card is added to the system, udev
uses the bus-based persistent name rule to rename the interface to the name of the bond member,
and calls ifup for it. The ifup call automatically joins
the new interface into the bond.
At boot time, network.service does not wait for the hotplugged
bond members, but for the bond to become ready, which only requires one available bond member.
3 Removing a bonded device #
Use this procedure to remove the configuration for a bonded or teamed device and restore the member interfaces to their original, separate configuration.
The following examples use the device name team0.
Replace this with the actual name of your device.
Stop the device:
>sudowicked ifdown team0Hide the configuration file by renaming it from
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-team0to/etc/sysconfig/network/.ifcfg-team0.Alternatively, if you definitely do not need the configuration anymore, remove the file instead of renaming it.
To re-enable the network interfaces that were included in the device, restore their original configuration from the backup files.
Reload the network configuration:
>sudowicked ifreload allCheck the status of the remaining network interfaces:
>ip addr
4 Network bonding or network teaming: feature comparison #
Network bonding and network teaming
are different methods for combining network connections to provide a single combined
interface. Bonding is handled exclusively in the kernel. Teaming includes a small set of
kernel modules that provide an interface for teamd instances,
but everything else is handled in user space.
| Feature | Bonding | Teaming |
|---|---|---|
| broadcast, round-robin TX policy | yes | yes |
| active-backup TX policy | yes | yes |
| LACP (802.3ad) support | yes | yes |
| hash-based TX policy | yes | yes |
| user can set hash function | no | yes |
| TX load-balancing support (TLB) | yes | yes |
| TX load-balancing support for LACP | no | yes |
| Ethtool link monitoring | yes | yes |
| ARP link monitoring | yes | yes |
| NS/NA (IPV6) link monitoring | no | yes |
| RCU locking on TX/RX paths | no | yes |
| port prio and stickiness | no | yes |
| separate per-port link monitoring setup | no | yes |
| multiple link monitoring setup | limited | yes |
| VLAN support | yes | yes |
| multiple device stacking | yes | yes |
5 Legal Notice #
Copyright© 2006–2025 SUSE LLC and contributors. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or (at your option) version 1.3; with the Invariant Section being this copyright notice and license. A copy of the license version 1.2 is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.
For SUSE trademarks, see https://www.suse.com/company/legal/. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Trademark symbols (®, ™ etc.) denote trademarks of SUSE and its affiliates. Asterisks (*) denote third-party trademarks.
All information found in this book has been compiled with utmost attention to detail. However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy. Neither SUSE LLC, its affiliates, the authors, nor the translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof.
GNU Free Documentation License
Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
0. PREAMBLE #
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or non-commercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.
This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.
We have designed this License to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.
1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS #
This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The "Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law.
A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language.
A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them.
The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.
The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words.
A "Transparent" copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format whose specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is not "Transparent" is called "Opaque".
Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and edited only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for which the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally available, and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF produced by some word processors for output purposes only.
The "Title Page" means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
A section "Entitled XYZ" means a named subunit of the Document whose title either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such as "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", "Endorsements", or "History".) To "Preserve the Title" of such a section when you modify the Document means that it remains a section "Entitled XYZ" according to this definition.
The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.
2. VERBATIM COPYING #
You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or non-commercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.
3. COPYING IN QUANTITY #
If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.
If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent pages.
If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.
It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.
4. MODIFICATIONS #
You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement.
State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the publisher.
Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.
Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.
Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document's license notice.
Include an unaltered copy of this License.
Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled "History" in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous sentence.
Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the "History" section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to gives permission.
For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications", Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section may not be included in the Modified Version.
Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled "Endorsements" or to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.
Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.
You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a standard.
You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.
The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS #
You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.
The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.
In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled "History" in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements".
6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS #
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.
You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.
7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS #
A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.
8. TRANSLATION #
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.
If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.
9. TERMINATION #
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE #
The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.
Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.
ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents #
Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.
If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the “with...Texts.” line with this:
with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being LIST.
If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.