diff --git a/spec/app/root-view-spec.coffee b/spec/app/root-view-spec.coffee
index 3ba846e30..c01cbce03 100644
--- a/spec/app/root-view-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/root-view-spec.coffee
@@ -155,15 +155,15 @@ describe "RootView", ->
     it "absorbs exceptions that are thrown by the package module's serialize methods", ->
       spyOn(console, 'error')
 
-      rootView.activatePackage("bad-egg",
-        activate: ->
-        serialize: -> throw new Error("I'm broken")
-      )
+      rootView.activatePackage "bad-egg",
+        packageMain:
+          activate: ->
+          serialize: -> throw new Error("I'm broken")
 
-      rootView.activatePackage("good-egg"
-        activate: ->
-        serialize: -> "I still get called"
-      )
+      rootView.activatePackage "good-egg"
+        packageMain:
+          activate: ->
+          serialize: -> "I still get called"
 
       data = rootView.serialize()
       expect(data.packageStates['good-egg']).toBe "I still get called"
@@ -419,47 +419,50 @@ describe "RootView", ->
         expect(view1.focus).toHaveBeenCalled()
 
   describe "packages", ->
-    packageModule = null
+    [pack, packageModule] = []
 
     beforeEach ->
-      packageModule =
-        configDefaults: foo: { bar: 2, baz: 3 }
-        activate: jasmine.createSpy("activate")
-        deactivate: ->
-        serialize: -> "it worked"
+      pack =
+        packageMain:
+          configDefaults: foo: { bar: 2, baz: 3 }
+          activate: jasmine.createSpy("activate")
+          deactivate: ->
+          serialize: -> "it worked"
 
-    describe ".activatePackage(name, packageModule)", ->
-      it "calls activate on the package module", ->
-        rootView.activatePackage('package', packageModule)
+      packageModule = pack.packageMain
+
+    describe ".activatePackage(name, package)", ->
+      it "calls activate on the package", ->
+        rootView.activatePackage('package', pack)
         expect(packageModule.activate).toHaveBeenCalledWith(undefined)
 
       it "calls activate on the package module with its previous state", ->
-        rootView.activatePackage('package', packageModule)
+        rootView.activatePackage('package', pack)
         packageModule.activate.reset()
 
         newRootView = RootView.deserialize(rootView.serialize())
-        newRootView.activatePackage('package', packageModule)
+        newRootView.activatePackage('package', pack)
         expect(packageModule.activate).toHaveBeenCalledWith("it worked")
         newRootView.remove()
 
       it "loads config defaults based on the `configDefaults` key", ->
         expect(config.get('foo.bar')).toBeUndefined()
-        rootView.activatePackage('package', packageModule)
+        rootView.activatePackage('package', pack)
         config.set("package.foo.bar", 1)
         expect(config.get('package.foo.bar')).toBe 1
         expect(config.get('package.foo.baz')).toBe 3
 
     describe ".deactivatePackage(packageName)", ->
       it "deactivates and removes the package module from the package module map", ->
-        rootView.activatePackage('package', packageModule)
-        expect(rootView.packageModules['package']).toBeTruthy()
+        rootView.activatePackage('package', pack)
+        expect(rootView.packages['package']).toBeTruthy()
         spyOn(packageModule, "deactivate").andCallThrough()
         rootView.deactivatePackage('package')
         expect(packageModule.deactivate).toHaveBeenCalled()
-        expect(rootView.packageModules['package']).toBeFalsy()
+        expect(rootView.packages['package']).toBeFalsy()
 
       it "is called when the rootView is deactivated to deactivate all packages", ->
-        rootView.activatePackage('package', packageModule)
+        rootView.activatePackage('package', pack)
         spyOn(rootView, "deactivatePackage").andCallThrough()
         spyOn(packageModule, "deactivate").andCallThrough()
         rootView.deactivate()
diff --git a/src/app/atom-package.coffee b/src/app/atom-package.coffee
index 213d24f93..418916978 100644
--- a/src/app/atom-package.coffee
+++ b/src/app/atom-package.coffee
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class AtomPackage extends Package
     mainPath = require.resolve(mainPath)
     if fs.isFile(mainPath)
       @packageMain = require(mainPath)
-      rootView?.activatePackage(@name, @packageMain)
+      rootView?.activatePackage(@name, this)
 
   loadMetadata: ->
     if metadataPath = fs.resolveExtension(fs.join(@path, 'package'), ['cson', 'json'])
diff --git a/src/app/root-view.coffee b/src/app/root-view.coffee
index b10daca67..710e0e407 100644
--- a/src/app/root-view.coffee
+++ b/src/app/root-view.coffee
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class RootView extends View
     rootView.setRootPane(rootView.deserializeView(panesViewState)) if panesViewState
     rootView
 
-  packageModules: null
+  packages: null
   packageStates: null
   title: null
   pathToOpenIsFile: false
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ class RootView extends View
   initialize: (projectOrPathToOpen, { @packageStates, suppressOpen } = {}) ->
     window.rootView = this
     @packageStates ?= {}
-    @packageModules = {}
+    @packages = {}
     @viewClasses = {
       "Pane": Pane,
       "PaneRow": PaneRow,
@@ -118,33 +118,15 @@ class RootView extends View
   afterAttach: (onDom) ->
     @focus() if onDom
 
-  serializePackages:  ->
-    packageStates = {}
-    for name, packageModule of @packageModules
-      try
-        packageStates[name] = packageModule.serialize?()
-      catch e
-        console?.error("Exception serializing '#{name}' package's module\n", e.stack)
-    packageStates
-
   registerViewClass: (viewClass) ->
     @viewClasses[viewClass.name] = viewClass
 
   deserializeView: (viewState) ->
     @viewClasses[viewState.viewClass]?.deserialize(viewState, this)
 
-  activatePackage: (name, packageModule) ->
-    config.setDefaults(name, packageModule.configDefaults) if packageModule.configDefaults?
-    @packageModules[name] = packageModule
-    packageModule.activate(@packageStates[name])
-
-  deactivatePackage: (name) ->
-    @packageModules[name].deactivate?()
-    delete @packageModules[name]
-
   deactivate: ->
     atom.setRootViewStateForPath(@project.getPath(), @serialize())
-    @deactivatePackage(name) for name of @packageModules
+    @deactivatePackage(name) for name of @packages
     @remove()
 
   open: (path, options = {}) ->
@@ -279,3 +261,21 @@ class RootView extends View
 
   eachBuffer: (callback) ->
     @project.eachBuffer(callback)
+
+  activatePackage: (name, pack) ->
+    config.setDefaults(name, pack.packageMain.configDefaults) if pack.packageMain.configDefaults?
+    @packages[name] = pack
+    pack.packageMain.activate(@packageStates[name])
+
+  deactivatePackage: (name) ->
+    @packages[name].packageMain.deactivate?()
+    delete @packages[name]
+
+  serializePackages:  ->
+    packageStates = {}
+    for name, pack of @packages
+      try
+        packageStates[name] = pack.packageMain.serialize?()
+      catch e
+        console?.error("Exception serializing '#{name}' package's module\n", e.stack)
+    packageStates