max-age
When an intermediate cache is forced, by means of a max-age=0 directive, to revalidate
its own cache entry, and the client has supplied its own validator in the request, the
supplied validator might differ from the validator currently stored with the cache entry.
In this case, the cache MAY use either validator in making its own request without
affecting semantic transparency.
However, the choice of validator might affect performance. The best approach is for the
intermediate cache to use its own validator when making its request. If the server replies
with 304 (Not Modified), then the cache can return its now validated copy to the client
with a 200 (OK) response. If the server replies with a new entity and cache validator,
however, the intermediate cache can compare the returned validator with the one provided in
the client's request, using the strong comparison function. If the client's validator is
equal to the origin server's, then the intermediate cache simply returns 304 (Not
Modified). Otherwise, it returns the new entity with a 200 (OK) response.
If a request includes the no-cache directive, it SHOULD NOT include min-fresh,
max-stale, or max-age.