Clockwork clears dalvik-cache just fine

[SilverZero]

There has been some confusion over whether ClockworkMod Recovery actually wipes the dalvik-cache correctly. I decided to test it myself. I booted into CW recovery, fired up ADB, and mounted /data. Looking inside /data/dalvik-cache I saw a list of .dex files (the cache, of course). So I unmounted, then used the CW menu to wipe the dalvik-cache. Note, this is NOT just the "wipe cache" option on the main menu. This is a separate option under "advanced." Then I re-mounted /data and looked again . . . and the dalvik-cache directory was completely gone. Rebooting into Android and looking again, it was back (rebuilt) after a long-ish boot time (rebuilding phase), so I'm sure that at least my install of CW v2.5.0.1 is wiping the dalvik-cache just fine.

If you're still not sure, you could use ADB to wipe the cache yourself:

adb shell
mount /data
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache/*

Then you can use the Clockwork menu to wipe everything else and flash your ROM. These three commands actually just delete everything inside the dalvik-cache directory, whereas Clockwork appears to remove the directory entirely. Doesn't really matter either way, the system will replace the directory if it gets deleted.

Feel free to replicate my results. That's how science works.

UPDATE: Just did a similar test with the "wipe data/factory reset" menu option. This actually wipes the entire /data directory, which includes the dalvik-cache, so doing a dalvik wipe would be redundant if you're doing a full data wipe anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong.