For a while, Metasploit has not used the old database-backed module cache in favor of the lightweight JSON data store. This also means that the db_rebuild_cache command has been broken.
While the base module cache usually stays up to date, if you delete a module as a developer, there's currently no great way to make the search function forget about that module unless you rebuild the cache manually (a procedure mostly documented inside of an automated build job).
This moves the logic from that build job into the a new reload_search command, and deprecates the old one.
Brent Cook
42c0a3b96a