I'm interested in understanding how a dex file (classesN.dex) references methods in another classesN.dex file.
In a standard dex layout, you have all of the class, method, type, etc... definitions in different tables. Things that are dynamically linked (such as those from the Android framework) simply have their method prototypes included, but no code data. Is it true that in a multidex setup, each classesN.dex contains a set of class implementations, and methods that are implemented in other dex files are merely included in the same way as dynamically linked calls?
In other words, if classes.dex needs to reference a method classes1.dex, it will include that method as a prototype within classes.dex, and then include its implementation in classes1.dex?
I ended up solving this question: it turns out that in a multidex layout the relevant method and class definitions are included in each dex file. For example, if classes.dex references methods foo() from classes1.dex, it will include a relevant entry in the method table for foo() within classes.dex's method table. But the implementation of foo() will appear in classes1.dex. This works because foo() is usually something like the entry of a library used by the app. The entry points of that library can be used without all of the methods called by foo. In classes.dex, foo will be defined without a corresponding code item, just as if it were a part of the dynamically linked Android standard library.