diff --git a/bin/crew b/bin/crew
index 5a3b86440..dcccfe355 100755
--- a/bin/crew
+++ b/bin/crew
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ require_relative '../lib/util'
 require_relative '../lib/convert_size'
 require_relative '../lib/downloader'
 require_relative '../lib/deb_utils'
+require_relative '../lib/package'
 
 # Add lib to LOAD_PATH
 $LOAD_PATH.unshift "#{CREW_LIB_PATH}lib"
@@ -185,21 +186,12 @@ end
 
 def set_package(pkgName, pkgPath)
   begin
-    require_relative pkgPath
+    @pkg = Package.load_package(pkgPath, pkgName)
   rescue SyntaxError => e
-    puts "#{e.class}: #{e.message}".red
+    warn "#{e.class}: #{e.message}".red
   end
 
-  # add `PKG_` to the beginning of class name if it starts with a digit
-  if pkgName =~ /^[0-9]/
-    className = 'PKG_' + pkgName
-  else
-    className = pkgName.capitalize
-  end
-
-  @pkg = Object.const_get(className)
   @pkg.build_from_source = true if @opt_recursive
-  @pkg.name = pkgName
 end
 
 def list_packages
diff --git a/lib/const.rb b/lib/const.rb
index fb85faa6d..470593b91 100644
--- a/lib/const.rb
+++ b/lib/const.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Defines common constants used in different parts of crew
 
-CREW_VERSION = '1.24.0'
+CREW_VERSION = '1.25.0'
 
 ARCH_ACTUAL = `uname -m`.chomp
 # This helps with virtualized builds on aarch64 machines
diff --git a/lib/package.rb b/lib/package.rb
index 188750c0f..5903b5336 100644
--- a/lib/package.rb
+++ b/lib/package.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'package_helpers'
+require_relative 'package_helpers'
 
 class Package
   property :description, :homepage, :version, :license, :compatibility,
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class Package
            :git_branch, :git_hashtag
 
   boolean_property = %i[conflicts_ok git_fetchtags gnome is_fake is_musl
-                        is_static no_compile_needed no_env_options no_fhs
+                        is_static no_compile_needed no_env_options no_fhs 
                         no_patchelf no_zstd patchelf git_clone_deep
                         no_git_submodules]
 
@@ -25,6 +25,20 @@ class Package
     attr_accessor :name, :is_dep, :in_build, :build_from_source, :in_upgrade
   end
 
+  def self.load_package ( pkgFile, pkgName = File.basename(pkgFile, '.rb') )
+    # self.load_package: load a package under 'Package' class scope
+    #
+    className = pkgName.capitalize
+
+    # read and eval package script under 'Package' class
+    class_eval( File.read(pkgFile), pkgFile ) unless const_defined?("Package::#{className}")
+
+    pkgObj = const_get(className)
+    pkgObj.name = pkgName
+
+    return pkgObj
+  end
+
   def self.dependencies
     # We need instance variable in derived class, so not define it here,
     # base class.  Instead of define it, we initialize it in a function
@@ -47,7 +61,7 @@ class Package
     #   highlight_build_deps: include corresponding symbols in return value, you can convert it to actual ascii color codes later
     # exclude_buildessential: do not insert `buildessential` dependency automatically
     #
-    #              top_level: if set to true, return satisfied dependencies
+    #              top_level: if set to true, return satisfied dependencies 
     #                         (dependencies that might be a sub-dependency of a dependency that checked before),
     #                         always set to false if this function is called in recursive loop (see `expandedDeps` below)
     #
@@ -56,7 +70,7 @@ class Package
     # add current package to @checked_list for preventing extra checks
     @checked_list.merge!({ pkgName => pkgTags })
 
-    pkgObj = Object.const_get(pkgName.capitalize)
+    pkgObj = load_package("#{CREW_PACKAGES_PATH}/#{pkgName}.rb")
     is_source = pkgObj.is_source?(ARCH.to_sym) or pkgObj.build_from_source
     deps = pkgObj.dependencies
 
@@ -81,7 +95,6 @@ class Package
                        tags = (pkgTags.include?(:build)) ? pkgTags : depTags
 
                        if @checked_list.keys.none?(dep)
-                         require_relative "#{CREW_PACKAGES_PATH}/#{dep}.rb"
                          # check dependency by calling this function recursively
                          next send(__method__, dep,
                                                      hash: hash,
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index 4f5e1ef9c..62a927744 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@ A simple example of a test script called `my_test` is below:
 #!/usr/bin/env ruby
 
 # Makes sure buildessential package depends on gcc
+require_relative "../lib/package"
+
+pkg = Package.load_package('../package/buildessential.rb')
 
-require_relative("../packages/buildessential")
-pkg = Object.const_get('Buildessential')
 if pkg.dependencies and pkg.dependencies.has_key?('gcc') then
 	puts "Everything works properly.".lightgreen
 else
diff --git a/tests/cycle_test b/tests/cycle_test
index f243d0add..50c44ee75 100755
--- a/tests/cycle_test
+++ b/tests/cycle_test
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 require 'find'
 require_relative '../lib/const'
 require_relative '../lib/color'
+require_relative '../lib/package'
 
 @all_pkgs = {}
 
@@ -13,11 +14,9 @@ $LOAD_PATH.unshift '../lib'
 puts "Running dependency cycle tests...\n".yellow
 
 # Loads all packages
-Dir.glob('../packages/*.rb').each do |filename|
+Dir['../packages/*.rb'].each do |filename|
   name = File.basename(filename, '.rb')
-  require_relative("../packages/#{name}")
-  pkg = Object.const_get(name.capitalize)
-  pkg.name = name
+  pkg = Package.load_package(filename, name)
   @all_pkgs[name] = pkg
 end