If you are using FLEXnet v10.8 or later floating license server software, there is a defined default order in which license files are sorted when parsed by the floating license server at startup. The default basic sorting rules within a single license file, from highest to lowest priority, are:

To define the use order of your licenses, add a SORT=nnn entry in the required INCREMENT line, where nnn is an integer from 000 to 255. The lower the SORT value, the higher the priority. The default sort value is 100. As this value is used when no SORT is defined by the user, lines with values less than 100 appear before unmodified lines, and lines with values greater than 100 appear after unmodified lines.

For example, if you have compiler INCREMENT entries in your license file with versions 3.1 and 4.0, you can ensure that the 3.1 license is made available first if you add a SORT attribute to the 3.1 INCREMENT as follows:

INCREMENT compiler armlmd 3.1 permanent 5 271940CDEFA0 \SORT=010 DUP_GROUP=UHD ISSUER="ARM Ltd" ...

If you are using FLEXlm v9.2 or earlier floating license server software, there is no fixed order in which licenses for different versions of tools are issued. This might mean that older versions of the development tools check out licenses for a newer version, even though the older licenses are available. You might find that an options file allows you to limit which users have access to what versions of a tools license. See How can I limit user access to particular licensed features?.