diff --git a/src/app/atom.coffee b/src/app/atom.coffee
index 8189c83eb..ec9246539 100644
--- a/src/app/atom.coffee
+++ b/src/app/atom.coffee
@@ -13,6 +13,25 @@ _.extend atom,
   loadedThemes: []
   pendingBrowserProcessCallbacks: {}
   loadedPackages: []
+  activatedAtomPackages: []
+  atomPackageStates: {}
+
+  activateAtomPackage: (pack) ->
+    @activatedAtomPackages.push(pack)
+    pack.packageMain.activate(@atomPackageStates[pack.name])
+
+  deactivateAtomPackages: ->
+    pack.packageMain.deactivate?() for pack in @activatedAtomPackages
+    @activatedAtomPackages = []
+
+  serializeAtomPackages: ->
+    packageStates = {}
+    for pack in @activatedAtomPackages
+      try
+        packageStates[pack.name] = pack.packageMain.serialize?()
+      catch e
+        console?.error("Exception serializing '#{pack.name}' package's module\n", e.stack)
+    packageStates
 
   loadPackage: (name, options) ->
     packagePath = _.find @getPackagePaths(), (packagePath) -> fs.base(packagePath) == name
diff --git a/src/app/root-view.coffee b/src/app/root-view.coffee
index 86525ed47..909ddc879 100644
--- a/src/app/root-view.coffee
+++ b/src/app/root-view.coffee
@@ -29,18 +29,18 @@ class RootView extends View
     else
       projectOrPathToOpen = projectPath # This will migrate people over to the new project serialization scheme. It should be removed eventually.
 
-    rootView = new RootView(projectOrPathToOpen , packageStates: packageStates, suppressOpen: true)
+    atom.atomPackageStates = packageStates ? {}
+
+    rootView = new RootView(projectOrPathToOpen , suppressOpen: true)
     rootView.setRootPane(rootView.deserializeView(panesViewState)) if panesViewState
     rootView
 
   packages: null
-  packageStates: null
   title: null
   pathToOpenIsFile: false
 
-  initialize: (projectOrPathToOpen, { @packageStates, suppressOpen } = {}) ->
+  initialize: (projectOrPathToOpen, { suppressOpen } = {}) ->
     window.rootView = this
-    @packageStates ?= {}
     @packages = []
     @viewClasses = {
       "Pane": Pane,
@@ -263,18 +263,10 @@ class RootView extends View
     @project.eachBuffer(callback)
 
   activatePackage: (pack) ->
-    @packages.push(pack)
-    pack.packageMain.activate(@packageStates[pack.name])
+    atom.activateAtomPackage(pack)
 
   deactivatePackages: ->
-    pack.packageMain.deactivate?() for pack in @packages
-    @packages = []
+    atom.deactivateAtomPackages()
 
   serializePackages:  ->
-    packageStates = {}
-    for pack in @packages
-      try
-        packageStates[pack.name] = pack.packageMain.serialize?()
-      catch e
-        console?.error("Exception serializing '#{name}' package's module\n", e.stack)
-    packageStates
+    atom.serializeAtomPackages()
diff --git a/src/app/window.coffee b/src/app/window.coffee
index c71d381c8..901c6dea8 100644
--- a/src/app/window.coffee
+++ b/src/app/window.coffee
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ windowAdditions =
   # Note: RootView assigns itself on window on initialization so that
   # window.rootView is available when loading user configuration
   attachRootView: (pathToOpen) ->
-    if rootViewState = atom.getRootViewStateForPath(pathToOpen)
-      RootView.deserialize(rootViewState)
+    if pathState = atom.getRootViewStateForPath(pathToOpen)
+      RootView.deserialize(pathState)
     else
       new RootView(pathToOpen)