--- freebsd-update.sh	2019-02-03 20:33:24.000000000 +0100
+++ freebsd-update.sh_modified	2019-02-05 12:03:20.000000000 +0100
@@ -969,6 +969,19 @@
 #
 # We ignore the Port field, since we are always going to use port 80.
 
+# Check connectivity to the server and loop until it works. On
+# non-interactive shell, run once only to avoid getting stuck.
+fetch_check_connection () {
+	while ! fetch ${QUIETFLAG} -o /dev/null \
+	    http://${SERVERNAME}/${FETCHDIR}/latest.ssl 2>${QUIETREDIR}; do
+                echo -n "failed. Waiting 60 seconds to retry... "
+                sleep 60
+                if [ ! -t 0 -a $NOTTYOK -eq 0 ]; then
+                        break
+                fi
+        done
+}
+
 # Fetch the mirror list, but do not pick a mirror yet.  Returns 1 if
 # no mirrors are available for any reason.
 fetch_pick_server_init () {
@@ -1350,6 +1363,7 @@
 		# Attempt to fetch metadata patches
 		echo -n "Fetching `wc -l < patchlist | tr -d ' '` "
 		echo ${NDEBUG} "metadata patches.${DDSTATS}"
+		fetch_check_connection
 		tr '|' '-' < patchlist |
 		    lam -s "${FETCHDIR}/tp/" - -s ".gz" |
 		    xargs ${XARGST} ${PHTTPGET} ${SERVERNAME}	\
@@ -1402,6 +1416,7 @@
 	if [ -s filelist ]; then
 		echo -n "Fetching `wc -l < filelist | tr -d ' '` "
 		echo ${NDEBUG} "metadata files... "
+		fetch_check_connection
 		lam -s "${FETCHDIR}/m/" - -s ".gz" < filelist |
 		    xargs ${XARGST} ${PHTTPGET} ${SERVERNAME}	\
 		    2>${QUIETREDIR}
@@ -1790,6 +1805,7 @@
 		done < files.wanted > filelist
 
 		# Actually fetch them
+		fetch_check_connection
 		lam -s "${OLDFETCHDIR}/f/" - -s ".gz" < filelist |
 		    xargs ${XARGST} ${PHTTPGET} ${SERVERNAME}	\
 		    2>${QUIETREDIR}
@@ -1889,6 +1905,7 @@
 	if [ -s patchlist ]; then
 		echo -n "Fetching `wc -l < patchlist | tr -d ' '` "
 		echo ${NDEBUG} "patches.${DDSTATS}"
+		fetch_check_connection
 		tr '|' '-' < patchlist |
 		    lam -s "${PATCHDIR}/" - |
 		    xargs ${XARGST} ${PHTTPGET} ${SERVERNAME}	\
@@ -1923,6 +1940,7 @@
 	if [ -s filelist ]; then
 		echo -n "Fetching `wc -l < filelist | tr -d ' '` "
 		echo ${NDEBUG} "files... "
+		fetch_check_connection
 		lam -s "${FETCHDIR}/f/" - -s ".gz" < filelist |
 		    xargs ${XARGST} ${PHTTPGET} ${SERVERNAME}	\
 			2>${STATSREDIR} | fetch_progress