diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3aedf854..b2ddd568 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 xbps-0.45 (???):
 
+ * libfetch: added support for keep-alive connections even if the HTTP server returns
+   304 (Not Modified). This is a noticable performance improvement for `xbps-install -S`.
+
  * xbps now autoupdates itself when there's a package update.
 
  * xbps-uchroot(8): added -O option to use overlayfs to mount CHROOTDIR in
diff --git a/lib/fetch/http.c b/lib/fetch/http.c
index 98f69105..25840a4c 100644
--- a/lib/fetch/http.c
+++ b/lib/fetch/http.c
@@ -704,8 +704,6 @@ http_connect(struct url *URL, struct url *purl, const char *flags, int *cached)
 	int val;
 #endif
 
-	*cached = 1;
-
 #ifdef INET6
 	af = AF_UNSPEC;
 #else
@@ -849,6 +847,7 @@ http_request(struct url *URL, const char *op, struct url_stat *us,
 		length = -1;
 		size = -1;
 		mtime = 0;
+		cached = 0;
 
 		/* check port */
 		if (!url->port)
@@ -1166,7 +1165,7 @@ http_request(struct url *URL, const char *op, struct url_stat *us,
 	URL->offset = offset;
 	URL->length = clength;
 
-	if (clength == -1 && !chunked)
+	if (clength == -1 && !chunked && conn->err != HTTP_NOT_MODIFIED)
 		keep_alive = 0;
 
 	if (conn->err == HTTP_NOT_MODIFIED) {