304 on Non-Conditional Request?

[Mike Bishop <[e-mail]>]

Going back over my HTTP Workshop notes around push and cache revalidation, I see a comment that a 304 response to a non-conditional GET is supposed to be valid, if somewhat ambiguous.  I'm trying to parse what that would mean, and I'm drawing a blank.

RFC 7232 defines 304 (Not Modified) this way:

   The 304 (Not Modified) status code indicates that a conditional GET

   or HEAD request has been received and would have resulted in a 200

   (OK) response if it were not for the fact that the condition

   evaluated to false.  In other words, there is no need for the server

   to transfer a representation of the target resource because the

   request indicates that the client, which made the request

   conditional, already has a valid representation; the server is

   therefore redirecting the client to make use of that stored

   representation as if it were the payload of a 200 (OK) response.

I therefore can't envision the scenario in which you would use this for a non-conditional GET.  I could vaguely see the reason phrase "Not Modified" as applying to e.g. a PATCH or PUT that doesn't actually result in a change to the resource, but that still seems more like a 2XX series response, perhaps 202 (Accepted).  But that's not GET.

Is there a scenario I'm missing, were my notes incorrect, or did I accurately transcribe the comment of someone who was incorrect?