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Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2015 10:35:28 -0700
From: Joshua Lokken <joshua@joshualokken.com>
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Questions about freebsd-update
Message-ID: <20150709173528.GF1048@satellite.workgroup.local>
References: <559C6B73.8050509@sneakertech.com>
 <559EA8B8.8080701@sneakertech.com>
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On Jul/09 01:00PM, Quartz wrote:
> So... does anyone have any ideas here? Is any of this even possible?
> 
> 
> On 2015-07-07 8:14 PM, Quartz wrote:
> > Have a couple odd situations I need to work around. I'm wondering if
> > anyone can help me answer the following questions about updating:
> >
> > 1) How do I get a list of available updates for a system WITHOUT
> > actually downloading anything or writing any files to disk?
> >
> > 2) How do I get freebsd-update to install only specific patches or
> > updates instead of everything?
> >
> > 3) How do I (or even can I) manually download patches onto a usb drive
> > and then install them onto a machine that has no internet connection?

After reading the handbook chapter and the man page for freebsd-update
it seems likely freebsd-update is not the tool you are looking for. 
See Brandon Wandersee's previous reply -- I concur, however, I am
not an expert on the topic, either.

--
Joshua