diff --git a/diskimage_builder/block_device/blockdevice.py b/diskimage_builder/block_device/blockdevice.py
index 30c2172d2..4e404bddf 100644
--- a/diskimage_builder/block_device/blockdevice.py
+++ b/diskimage_builder/block_device/blockdevice.py
@@ -307,18 +307,26 @@ class BlockDevice(object):
         # been dumped; i.e. after cmd_create() called.
         state = BlockDeviceState(self.state_json_file_name)
 
-        if symbol == 'image-block-partition':
-            # If there is no partition needed, pass back directly the
-            # image.
-            if 'root' in state['blockdev']:
-                print("%s" % state['blockdev']['root']['device'])
-            else:
-                print("%s" % state['blockdev']['image0']['device'])
-            return 0
+        # The path to the .raw file for conversion
         if symbol == 'image-path':
             print("%s" % state['blockdev']['image0']['image'])
             return 0
 
+        # This is the loopback device where the above image is setup
+        if symbol == 'image-block-device':
+            print("%s" % state['blockdev']['image0']['device'])
+            return 0
+
+        # Full list of created devices by name.  Some bootloaders, for
+        # example, want to be able to see their boot partitions to
+        # copy things in.  Intended to be read into a bash array
+        if symbol == 'image-block-devices':
+            out = ""
+            for k, v in state['blockdev'].items():
+                out += " [%s]=%s " % (k, v['device'])
+            print(out)
+            return 0
+
         logger.error("Invalid symbol [%s] for getval", symbol)
         return 1
 
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/block_device/level1/partition.py b/diskimage_builder/block_device/level1/partition.py
index c6f812c5d..e91e1bf98 100644
--- a/diskimage_builder/block_device/level1/partition.py
+++ b/diskimage_builder/block_device/level1/partition.py
@@ -65,5 +65,15 @@ class PartitionNode(NodeBase):
             edge_from.append(self.prev_partition.name)
         return (edge_from, edge_to)
 
+    # These all call back to the parent "partitioning" object to do
+    # the real work.  Every node calls it, but only one will succeed;
+    # see the gating we do in the parent function.
+    #
+    # XXX: A better model here would be for the parent object to a
+    # real node in the config graph, so it's create() gets called.
+    # These can then just be stubs.
     def create(self):
         self.partitioning.create()
+
+    def cleanup(self):
+        self.partitioning.cleanup()
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/block_device/level1/partitioning.py b/diskimage_builder/block_device/level1/partitioning.py
index ff2b2bc74..f7fd07ced 100644
--- a/diskimage_builder/block_device/level1/partitioning.py
+++ b/diskimage_builder/block_device/level1/partitioning.py
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 import logging
 import os
 
-from subprocess import CalledProcessError
-
 from diskimage_builder.block_device.exception import \
     BlockDeviceSetupException
 from diskimage_builder.block_device.level1.mbr import MBR
@@ -45,6 +43,7 @@ class Partitioning(PluginBase):
         # within one object, there is the need to store a flag if the
         # creation of the partitions was already done.
         self.already_created = False
+        self.already_cleaned = False
 
         # Parameter check
         if 'base' not in config:
@@ -94,52 +93,10 @@ class Partitioning(PluginBase):
             fd.seek(0, 2)
             return fd.tell()
 
-    def _all_part_devices_exist(self, expected_part_devices):
-        for part_device in expected_part_devices:
-            logger.debug("Checking if partition device [%s] exists",
-                         part_device)
-            if not os.path.exists(part_device):
-                logger.info("Partition device [%s] does not exists",
-                            part_device)
-                return False
-            logger.debug("Partition already exists [%s]", part_device)
-        return True
-
-    def _notify_os_of_partition_changes(self, device_path, partition_devices):
-        """Notify of of partition table changes
-
-        There is the need to call some programs to inform the operating
-        system of partition tables changes.
-        These calls are highly distribution and version specific. Here
-        a couple of different methods are used to get the best result.
-        """
-        try:
-            exec_sudo(["partprobe", device_path])
-            exec_sudo(["udevadm", "settle"])
-        except CalledProcessError as e:
-            logger.info("Ignoring settling failure: %s", e)
-            pass
-
-        if self._all_part_devices_exist(partition_devices):
-            return
-        # If running inside Docker, make our nodes manually, because udev
-        # will not be working.
-        if os.path.exists("/.dockerenv"):
-            # kpartx cannot run in sync mode in docker.
-            exec_sudo(["kpartx", "-av", device_path])
-            exec_sudo(["dmsetup", "--noudevsync", "mknodes"])
-            return
-
-        exec_sudo(["kpartx", "-avs", device_path])
-
+    # not this is NOT a node and this is not called directly!  The
+    # create() calls in the partition nodes this plugin has
+    # created are calling back into this.
     def create(self):
-        # not this is NOT a node and this is not called directly!  The
-        # create() calls in the partition nodes this plugin has
-        # created are calling back into this.
-        image_path = self.state['blockdev'][self.base]['image']
-        device_path = self.state['blockdev'][self.base]['device']
-        logger.info("Creating partition on [%s] [%s]", self.base, image_path)
-
         # This is a bit of a hack.  Each of the partitions is actually
         # in the graph, so for every partition we get a create() call
         # as the walk happens.  But we only need to create the
@@ -147,10 +104,16 @@ class Partitioning(PluginBase):
         if self.already_created:
             logger.info("Not creating the partitions a second time.")
             return
+        self.already_created = True
+
+        # the raw file on disk
+        image_path = self.state['blockdev'][self.base]['image']
+        # the /dev/loopX device of the parent
+        device_path = self.state['blockdev'][self.base]['device']
+        logger.info("Creating partition on [%s] [%s]", self.base, image_path)
 
         assert self.label == 'mbr'
 
-        partition_devices = set()
         disk_size = self._size_of_block_dev(image_path)
         with MBR(image_path, disk_size, self.align) as part_impl:
             for part_cfg in self.partitions:
@@ -170,11 +133,36 @@ class Partitioning(PluginBase):
                                               part_size, part_type)
                 logger.debug("Create partition [%s] [%d]",
                              part_name, part_no)
-                partition_device_name = device_path + "p%d" % part_no
+
+                # We're going to mount all partitions with kpartx
+                # below once we're done.  So the device this partition
+                # will be seen at becomes "/dev/mapper/loop0pX"
+                assert device_path[:5] == "/dev/"
+                partition_device_name = "/dev/mapper/%sp%d" % \
+                                        (device_path[5:], part_no)
                 self.state['blockdev'][part_name] \
                     = {'device': partition_device_name}
-                partition_devices.add(partition_device_name)
 
-        self.already_created = True
-        self._notify_os_of_partition_changes(device_path, partition_devices)
+        # now all the partitions are created, get device-mapper to
+        # mount them
+        if not os.path.exists("/.dockerenv"):
+            exec_sudo(["kpartx", "-avs", device_path])
+        else:
+            # If running inside Docker, make our nodes manually,
+            # because udev will not be working. kpartx cannot run in
+            # sync mode in docker.
+            exec_sudo(["kpartx", "-av", device_path])
+            exec_sudo(["dmsetup", "--noudevsync", "mknodes"])
+
         return
+
+    def cleanup(self):
+        # remove the partition mappings made for the parent
+        # block-device by create() above.  this is called from the
+        # child PartitionNode umount/delete/cleanup.  Thus every
+        # partition calls it, but we only want to do it once and our
+        # gate.
+        if not self.already_cleaned:
+            self.already_cleaned = True
+            exec_sudo(["kpartx", "-d",
+                       self.state['blockdev'][self.base]['device']])
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/bootloader/finalise.d/50-bootloader b/diskimage_builder/elements/bootloader/finalise.d/50-bootloader
index 6b956f80d..80472156a 100755
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/bootloader/finalise.d/50-bootloader
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/bootloader/finalise.d/50-bootloader
@@ -9,8 +9,11 @@ fi
 set -eu
 set -o pipefail
 
-PART_DEV=$IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE
-BOOT_DEV=$IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE_WITHOUT_PART
+BOOT_DEV=$IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE
+
+# All available devices, handy for some bootloaders...
+declare -A DEVICES
+eval DEVICES=( $IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICES )
 
 function install_extlinux {
     install-packages -m bootloader extlinux
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/lib/common-functions b/diskimage_builder/lib/common-functions
index c99c4747a..4be4bb675 100644
--- a/diskimage_builder/lib/common-functions
+++ b/diskimage_builder/lib/common-functions
@@ -239,22 +239,6 @@ function run_d() {
     check_break after-$1 bash
 }
 
-function detach_loopback() {
-    local loopdev=$1
-
-    # Remove the map if it exists
-    # If setup on a rhel or derivative the map was created with kpartx not losetup
-    # and subsequently needs to be removed.
-    loopdev_name=$(echo $loopdev | sed 's/\/dev\///g')
-
-    if sudo dmsetup ls | grep $loopdev_name; then
-        mapper_name=$(sudo dmsetup ls | grep $loopdev_name | awk '{ print $1 }')
-        sudo dmsetup --noudevsync remove $mapper_name
-    fi
-
-    return 0
-}
-
 function arg_to_elements() {
   for arg do IMAGE_ELEMENT="$IMAGE_ELEMENT $arg" ; done
 
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/lib/disk-image-create b/diskimage_builder/lib/disk-image-create
index 88c64ed32..ff3dcebec 100644
--- a/diskimage_builder/lib/disk-image-create
+++ b/diskimage_builder/lib/disk-image-create
@@ -413,21 +413,28 @@ if [ -z ${IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE} ] ; then
     # values to dib-block-device: using the YAML config and
     dib-block-device create
 
-    # It's called 'DEVICE' but it's the partition.
-    IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE=$(dib-block-device getval image-block-partition)
+    # This is the device (/dev/loopX).  It's where to install the
+    # bootloader.
+    IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE=$(dib-block-device getval image-block-device)
+    export IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE
+
+    # Similar to above, but all mounted devices.  This is handy for
+    # some bootloaders that have multi-partition layouts and want to
+    # copy things to different places other than just
+    # IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE.  "eval" this into an array as needed
+    IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICES=$(dib-block-device getval image-block-devices)
+    export IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICES
 
     # Write the fstab
     dib-block-device writefstab
 fi
-export IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE
+
+# XXX: needed?
 LOOPDEV=${IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE}
 
-IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE_WITHOUT_PART=$(echo ${IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE} \
-              | sed -e "s|^\(.*loop[0-9]*\)p[0-9]*$|\1|g")
-export IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE_WITHOUT_PART
-
-export EXTRA_DETACH="detach_loopback ${IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE_WITHOUT_PART}"
-export EXTRA_UNMOUNT="dib-block-device cleanup"
+# At this point, dib-block-device has created the raw image file
+# (IMAGE_BLOCK_DEVICE) and mounted all the partitions under
+# $TMP_BUILD_DIR/mnt for us.  We can now copy into the final image.
 
 # 'mv' is not usable here - especially when a top level directory
 # has the same name as a mount point of a partition.  If so, 'mv'
@@ -480,14 +487,15 @@ fi
 
 # Unmount and cleanup the /mnt and /build subdirectories, to save
 # space before converting the image to some other format.
+# XXX ? needed?
 export EXTRA_UNMOUNT=""
 unmount_image
 
 TMP_IMAGE_PATH=$(dib-block-device getval image-path)
 export TMP_IMAGE_PATH
 
+# remove all mounts
 dib-block-device umount
-
 dib-block-device cleanup
 
 cleanup_build_dir