How to clear Dalvik cache on rooted Dell Streak
Though it isn't always necessary, sometimes you'll need to clear the Dalvik cache on your rooted Dell Streak. Doing so is occasionally recommended whenever you flash a new ROM, but it is more often suggested as a way to resolve app-related errors that appear after applying an update.
Some users who applied the Android 2.1 update on their Dell Streaks, for example, experienced problems with Android Market that were fixed by clearing the Dalvik cache.
It takes just seconds to do and can even be done directly on your Streak. No computer needed!
- Download a terminal emulator from Android Market. I use Android Terminal Emulator personally, but you can use whatever you want. MoDaCo forum member fards, who was the one who discovered that clearing the Dalvik cache resolves Market problems, uses Better Terminal Emulator, which I believe is more robust.
- Launch the terminal app.
- Type the following, hitting the enter key at every line break:
su
cd data/dalvik-cache
rm *
exit - Reboot the Streak.
It will take a long time to boot because of the way Dalvik works. If you're interested, here's a nice summary from none other than the world-famous cyanogen:
When Android starts up, the DalvikVM looks thru all of your applications (.apk files) and frameworks, and builds a tree of dependencies. It uses this dependency tree to optimize the bytecode for every application and stores it in the Dalvik cache. The applications are then run using the optimized bytecode. This is why when you install a new ROM, sometimes it takes a very long time to boot for the first time. Any time an application (or framework library) changes, it's reoptimized and the cache is updated.
