```
root@freebsd:~ # uname -abiUK
FreeBSD freebsd.kvm.localdomain 13.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE releng/13.1-n250148-fc952ac2212 GENERIC amd64 GENERIC 1301000 1301000 5b12d97f9629e35915bb91fb9145e851f0b437fe
```
```
root@freebsd:~ # freebsd-update check
src component not installed, skipped
Looking up update.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 2 mirrors found.
Fetching public key from update2.freebsd.org... done.
Fetching metadata signature for 13.1-RELEASE from update2.freebsd.org... done.
There is an update available: 13.1-RELEASE-p1
root@freebsd:~ # find /var/db/freebsd-update/
/var/db/freebsd-update/
/var/db/freebsd-update/files
/var/db/freebsd-update/tINDEX.present
/var/db/freebsd-update/serverlist_tried
/var/db/freebsd-update/serverlist_full
/var/db/freebsd-update/serverlist
/var/db/freebsd-update/pub.ssl
/var/db/freebsd-update/tag.new
root@freebsd:~ # du -sh /var/db/freebsd-update/
28K /var/db/freebsd-update/
```
```
root@freebsd:~ # freebsd-update fetch
src component not installed, skipped
Looking up update.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 2 mirrors found.
Fetching public key from update1.freebsd.org... done.
Fetching metadata signature for 13.1-RELEASE from update1.freebsd.org... done.
Fetching metadata index... done.
Fetching 2 metadata files... done.
Inspecting system... done.
Preparing to download files... done.
Fetching 8 patches..... done.
Applying patches... done.
root@freebsd:~ # find /var/db/freebsd-update/
/var/db/freebsd-update/
/var/db/freebsd-update/files
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/0bd6d0e9205702e46ec1ab85e03c75b82b3d349655f4a8f12a45c84f5cc57be5.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/1b5d50195d5c5d6275d05df7a353da2a6f23769ed6d6c88ea6760618c8d5b766.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/202884e06b5cd7a4a3cbc605d31f1b86cd5f3459a81e4cc2945cd8246eebcbc1.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/f9da837ee70dc8b8f48c9b3b0599e3a667d511b2e3fe005ff4dd00a3f3db47c1.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/d91fe3dc61ec4faf35fd7ff70e79da823fdbacbd0f06489a79480d523c10e813.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/20c6c61e3a5a17257a3649026dcc26d873914bce75a6e9560c1e5343720c097f.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/fc47fc445d95785d69a22f5b8a57c430bf44add537786219a0883e4239a149c5.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/7e03e998979665edd655a6cc6289e8a23aa0f26477f562376e4e017c72bfd757.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/9f7830221f50a2689e65842241550bb73589a1e40041168b9d538ad610440199.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/a374f3997f7a94c8aeae10c28cca1a86d5e25361103c5b5d50b90c3330de36bb.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/bd2bb9ebe7e59750f43a886eee2cb79da9d0ef8a54f57736fa1f5894c0bb6e10.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/3fb7e32f9cae1cd88a530b744bda9418291bab494f42ed505dc63b2449c2d97f.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/982bfe44a873f9ba2f2a2adf79db3daa1dfdcd2b452fa92a9b3b73902c6a92c8.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/cfe3b430100563fbb4ea07035a97753e0fcee589624176bd699c6cd9587b0395.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/02d7d8a57a692cfc1c6596fc9de5d081d3e6919565284f70c2158c8233ef16df.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/a40b21d2cb1bf04d8f96c76fa47928128f6ccd5fda44d0d954918c6c3c79c83c.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/be6bcc0bd7ba797dd6d89d9c225f1e6518ca40e747ec043354ce3ad743d1a4b4.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/files/f63e85cc386e3fbc2563481bc7013ad304acafee944cce14f63f5af59c269969.gz
/var/db/freebsd-update/tINDEX.present
/var/db/freebsd-update/serverlist_tried
/var/db/freebsd-update/serverlist_full
/var/db/freebsd-update/serverlist
/var/db/freebsd-update/pub.ssl
/var/db/freebsd-update/tag
/var/db/freebsd-update/install.jVMf0I
/var/db/freebsd-update/install.jVMf0I/INDEX-OLD
/var/db/freebsd-update/install.jVMf0I/INDEX-NEW
/var/db/freebsd-update/f465c3739385890c221dff1a05e578c6cae0d0430e46996d319db7439f884336-install
root@freebsd:~ # du -sh /var/db/freebsd-update/
26M /var/db/freebsd-update/
```
taking **12.3-RELEASE** as example now, and checking how fast `check` can be (and again how less storage it would consume):
```
root@freebsd:~ # env PAGER=cat time freebsd-update fetch >/dev/null
38.63 real 20.64 user 1.81 sys
root@freebsd:~ # cat /var/db/freebsd-update/tag
freebsd-update|amd64|12.3-RELEASE|6|c63d0d5b3974423f39310a515f177873bea6b649510643bd0781788c062fa41d|1675123200
root@freebsd:~ # du -sh /var/db/freebsd-update/
150M /var/db/freebsd-update/
```
running the very same command again would present us the following:
```
root@freebsd:~ # env PAGER=cat time freebsd-update fetch >/dev/null
12.51 real 10.94 user 0.88 sys
```
if there's the `check` command available as an alternative option to just check for updates, well:
```
root@freebsd:~ # time freebsd-update check >/dev/null
0.41 real 0.09 user 0.06 sys
```