Comment 21 for bug 714904

Jim, update or fresh install should not make a difference (except if the currently installed version would be way old (older than Hardy) which is unlikely). The main difference to look out for would be that neither installation nor upgrade print a line about preserving old configuration files.

About your questions:

1. I think it works similar as it did with the kernel package, that is all bug reports mentioned to be fixed by a package in proposed are checked after about one or two weeks after uploading. If there is no feedback about the bug not being fixed or new problems being introduced the package would get moved to updates. It is a bit hard to say what to do with your experience. Was bonding not working after an upgrade because of the package or some other problem? At least fresh install worked better than before and at least a working version upgrading does not get worse (what I basically did in my tests). That hopefully is acceptable enough.

2. The most documentation is in /usr/share/doc/ifenslave-2.6/README.Debian. Though it does not explain all the details. Some of the options may have a bit more help from the bonding module itself (modinfo bonding). But at least it describes a simple setup. In that doc dir there is also an examples directory that is helpful. Note that the options apparently can use underscore or hyphen, so bond-master works the same as bond_master does.