diff --git a/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh b/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh
--- a/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh
+++ b/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh
@@ -632,7 +632,6 @@
 		QUIETREDIR="/dev/stderr"
 		QUIETFLAG=" "
 		STATSREDIR="/dev/stderr"
-		DDSTATS=".."
 		XARGST="-t"
 		NDEBUG=" "
 		;;
@@ -640,7 +639,6 @@
 		QUIETREDIR=""
 		QUIETFLAG=""
 		STATSREDIR="/dev/null"
-		DDSTATS=".."
 		XARGST=""
 		NDEBUG=""
 		;;
@@ -648,7 +646,6 @@
 		QUIETREDIR="/dev/null"
 		QUIETFLAG="-q"
 		STATSREDIR="/dev/stdout"
-		DDSTATS=""
 		XARGST=""
 		NDEBUG="-n"
 		;;
@@ -1186,16 +1183,26 @@
 
 # Print user-friendly progress statistics
 fetch_progress () {
-	LNC=0
+	# Prompt
+	local FPMPT="$1"
+	# Total count
+	local FCNT=$2
+	# Local variables
+	local LNC=0
+	local _pstr=""
+	printf "%s... " "${FPMPT}"
 	while read x; do
-		LNC=$(($LNC + 1))
-		if [ $(($LNC % 10)) = 0 ]; then
-			echo -n $LNC
-		elif [ $(($LNC % 2)) = 0 ]; then
-			echo -n .
+		if [ "${VERBOSELEVEL}" != "nostats" ]; then
+			LNC=$(($LNC + 1))
+			if [ $(($LNC % 2)) = 0 ]; then
+				_pstr=`printf "%s... %d/%d" "${FPMPT}" ${LNC} ${FCNT}`
+				printf "\r%-${#_pstr}s\r%s" "" "${_pstr}"
+			fi
 		fi
 	done
-	echo -n " "
+	# Print length-of-last-progress-string number of spaces followed
+	# by the final string.
+	printf "\r%-${#_pstr}s\r%s... done.\n" "" "${FPMPT}"
 }
 
 # Function for asking the user if everything is ok
@@ -1438,13 +1445,12 @@
 
 	if [ -s patchlist ]; then
 		# Attempt to fetch metadata patches
-		echo -n "Fetching `wc -l < patchlist | tr -d ' '` "
-		echo ${NDEBUG} "metadata patches.${DDSTATS}"
+		local _totalf=`wc -l < patchlist | tr -d ' '`
+		local _pmpt="Fetching ${_totalf} metadata patches"
 		tr '|' '-' < patchlist |
 		    lam -s "${FETCHDIR}/tp/" - -s ".gz" |
 		    xargs ${XARGST} ${PHTTPGET} ${SERVERNAME}	\
-			2>${STATSREDIR} | fetch_progress
-		echo "done."
+		      2>${STATSREDIR} | fetch_progress "${_pmpt}" ${_totalf}
 
 		# Attempt to apply metadata patches
 		echo -n "Applying metadata patches... "
@@ -1979,13 +1985,12 @@
 fetch_files () {
 	# Attempt to fetch patches
 	if [ -s patchlist ]; then
-		echo -n "Fetching `wc -l < patchlist | tr -d ' '` "
-		echo ${NDEBUG} "patches.${DDSTATS}"
+		local _totalf=`wc -l < patchlist | tr -d ' '`
+		local _pmpt="Fetching ${_totalf} patches"
 		tr '|' '-' < patchlist |
 		    lam -s "${PATCHDIR}/" - |
 		    xargs ${XARGST} ${PHTTPGET} ${SERVERNAME}	\
-			2>${STATSREDIR} | fetch_progress
-		echo "done."
+			2>${STATSREDIR} | fetch_progress "${_pmpt}" ${_totalf}
 
 		# Attempt to apply patches
 		echo -n "Applying patches... "
@@ -2013,12 +2018,13 @@
 	done < files.wanted > filelist
 
 	if [ -s filelist ]; then
-		echo -n "Fetching `wc -l < filelist | tr -d ' '` "
-		echo ${NDEBUG} "files... "
+		local _totalf=`wc -l < filelist | tr -d ' '`
+		local _pmpt="Fetching ${_totalf} files"
 		lam -s "${FETCHDIR}/f/" - -s ".gz" < filelist |
 		    xargs ${XARGST} ${PHTTPGET} ${SERVERNAME}	\
-			2>${STATSREDIR} | fetch_progress
+			2>${STATSREDIR} | fetch_progress "${_pmpt}" ${_totalf}
 
+		echo -n "Extracting patches and verifying checksums... "
 		while read Y; do
 			if ! [ -f ${Y}.gz ]; then
 				echo "failed."