[lug] proc/partitions

[dio2002 at indra.com]

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   8     0  244198584 sda
   8     1     104391 sda1
   8     2  235520932 sda2
   8     3    5116702 sda3
   8    16  244198584 sdb
   8    17     104391 sdb1
   8    18  235520932 sdb2
   8    19    5116702 sdb3
   9     1  235520832 md1
   9     2    5116608 md2
   9     0     104320 md0
 253     0    5111808 dm-0
 253     1   20480000 dm-1
 253     2   20480000 dm-2
 253     3   40960000 dm-3
 253     4   40960000 dm-4

it looks like the dm partitions are "device mapper" partitions and
represent my logical volumes as the sizes match up.

anybody have insight to how this info is actually used by the kernel?