diff -ur squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219.orig/src/cf.data.pre squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219/src/cf.data.pre
--- squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219.orig/src/cf.data.pre	2004-12-10 01:49:54.000000000 +0100
+++ squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219/src/cf.data.pre	2004-12-19 11:54:26.972649361 +0100
@@ -4514,4 +4514,18 @@
 	until all the child processes have been started.
 DOC_END
 
+NAME: minimum_expiry_time
+COMMENT: (seconds)
+TYPE: time_t
+LOC: Config.minimum_expiry_time
+DEFAULT: 60 seconds
+DOC_START
+        The minimum caching time according to (Expires - Date)
+        Headers Squid honors if the object can't be revalidated
+        defaults to 60 seconds. In reverse proxy enorinments it
+        might be desirable to honor shorter object lifetimes. It
+        is most likely better to make your server return a
+        meaningful Last-Modified header.
+DOC_END
+
 EOF
diff -ur squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219.orig/src/refresh.cc squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219/src/refresh.cc
--- squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219.orig/src/refresh.cc	2004-11-06 23:20:47.000000000 +0100
+++ squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219/src/refresh.cc	2004-12-19 10:20:50.806349784 +0100
@@ -390,14 +390,15 @@
     /*
      * Don't look at the request to avoid no-cache and other nuisances.
      * the object should have a mem_obj so the URL will be found there.
-     * 60 seconds delta, to avoid objects which expire almost
-     * immediately, and which can't be refreshed.
+     * minimum_expiry_time seconds delta (defaults to 60 seconds), to 
+     * avoid objects which expire almost immediately, and which can't 
+     * be refreshed.
      */
     /* For ESI, we use a delta of 0, as ESI objects typically can be
      * refreshed, but the expiry may be low to enforce regular
      * checks
      */
-    int reason = refreshCheck(entry, NULL, ESI ? 0 : 60);
+    int reason = refreshCheck(entry, NULL, ESI ? 0 : Config.minimum_expiry_time);
     refreshCounts[rcStore].total++;
     refreshCounts[rcStore].status[reason]++;
 
diff -ur squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219.orig/src/structs.h squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219/src/structs.h
--- squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219.orig/src/structs.h	2004-12-08 01:24:42.000000000 +0100
+++ squid-3.0-PRE3-20041219/src/structs.h	2004-12-19 10:11:59.970181186 +0100
@@ -714,6 +714,7 @@
     warnings;
     char *store_dir_select_algorithm;
     int sleep_after_fork;	/* microseconds */
+    time_t minimum_expiry_time;	/* seconds */
     external_acl *externalAclHelperList;
 #if USE_SSL