diff --git a/lib/ansible/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/__init__.py
index 85aeb08fef8..d8aeac5e583 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/__init__.py
@@ -19,5 +19,10 @@
 from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
 __metaclass__ = type
 
-__version__ = '2.2.0'
-__author__  = 'Ansible, Inc.'
+# Note: Do not add any code to this file.  The ansible module may be
+# a namespace package when using Ansible-2.1+ Anything in this file may not be
+# available if one of the other packages in the namespace is loaded first.
+#
+# This is for backwards compat.  Code should be ported to get these from
+# ansible.release instead of from here.
+from ansible.release import __version__, __author__
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
index 5493d49b19b..00c29524e78 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ import getpass
 import signal
 import subprocess
 
-from ansible import __version__
+from ansible.release import __version__
 from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleOptionsError
 from ansible.utils.unicode import to_bytes, to_unicode
diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py b/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
index faf8035226c..42b6fccec05 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ import zipfile
 from io import BytesIO
 
 # from Ansible
-from ansible import __version__
+from ansible.release import __version__, __author__
 from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
 from ansible.utils.unicode import to_bytes, to_unicode
@@ -533,6 +533,7 @@ def _find_snippet_imports(module_name, module_data, module_path, module_args, ta
         constants = dict(
                 SELINUX_SPECIAL_FS=C.DEFAULT_SELINUX_SPECIAL_FS,
                 SYSLOG_FACILITY=_get_facility(task_vars),
+                ANSIBLE_VERSION=__version__,
                 )
         params = dict(ANSIBLE_MODULE_ARGS=module_args,
                 ANSIBLE_MODULE_CONSTANTS=constants,
@@ -562,8 +563,8 @@ def _find_snippet_imports(module_name, module_data, module_path, module_args, ta
                     # Create the module zip data
                     zipoutput = BytesIO()
                     zf = zipfile.ZipFile(zipoutput, mode='w', compression=compression_method)
-                    zf.writestr('ansible/__init__.py', b''.join((b"__version__ = '", to_bytes(__version__), b"'\n")))
-                    zf.writestr('ansible/module_utils/__init__.py', b'')
+                    zf.writestr('ansible/__init__.py', b'from pkgutil import extend_path\n__path__=extend_path(__path__,__name__)\ntry:\n    from ansible.release import __version__,__author__\nexcept ImportError:\n    __version__="' + to_bytes(__version__) + b'"\n    __author__="' + to_bytes(__author__) + b'"\n')
+                    zf.writestr('ansible/module_utils/__init__.py', b'from pkgutil import extend_path\n__path__=extend_path(__path__,__name__)\n')
 
                     zf.writestr('ansible_module_%s.py' % module_name, module_data)
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/__init__.py
index 266d06a6137..9cde27b5223 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/__init__.py
@@ -15,3 +15,6 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with Ansible.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+# Note: Do not add any code to this file.  module_utils may be a namespace
+# package when using Ansible-2.1+ Anything in this file may not be available
+# if one of the other packages in the namespace is loaded first.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index 7ae2cb941cc..10ae75ac808 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -219,10 +219,6 @@ except ImportError:
 
 _literal_eval = literal_eval
 
-from ansible import __version__
-# Backwards compat. New code should just import and use __version__
-ANSIBLE_VERSION = __version__
-
 # Internal global holding passed in params and constants.  This is consulted
 # in case multiple AnsibleModules are created.  Otherwise each AnsibleModule
 # would attempt to read from stdin.  Other code should not use this directly
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/rax.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/rax.py
index d9eb74f071a..37ce66b40df 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/rax.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/rax.py
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ import os
 import re
 from uuid import UUID
 
-from ansible import __version__
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import BOOLEANS
 
 FINAL_STATUSES = ('ACTIVE', 'ERROR')
@@ -264,7 +263,7 @@ def rax_required_together():
 
 def setup_rax_module(module, rax_module, region_required=True):
     """Set up pyrax in a standard way for all modules"""
-    rax_module.USER_AGENT = 'ansible/%s %s' % (__version__,
+    rax_module.USER_AGENT = 'ansible/%s %s' % (module.constants['ANSIBLE_VERSION'],
                                                rax_module.USER_AGENT)
 
     api_key = module.params.get('api_key')
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
index 3216a9235b2..e8558fef0a4 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -145,15 +145,15 @@ class PluginLoader:
     def _get_package_paths(self):
         ''' Gets the path of a Python package '''
 
-        paths = []
         if not self.package:
             return []
         if not hasattr(self, 'package_path'):
             m = __import__(self.package)
             parts = self.package.split('.')[1:]
-            self.package_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(m.__file__), *parts)
-        paths.extend(self._all_directories(self.package_path))
-        return paths
+            for parent_mod in parts:
+                m = getattr(m, parent_mod)
+            self.package_path = os.path.dirname(m.__file__)
+        return self._all_directories(self.package_path)
 
     def _get_paths(self):
         ''' Return a list of paths to search for plugins in '''
diff --git a/lib/ansible/release.py b/lib/ansible/release.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..85aeb08fef8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ansible/release.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# (c) 2012-2014, Michael DeHaan <michael.dehaan@gmail.com>
+#
+# This file is part of Ansible
+#
+# Ansible is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# Ansible is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with Ansible.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+# Make coding more python3-ish
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+__version__ = '2.2.0'
+__author__  = 'Ansible, Inc.'
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b9678e2ab9b..df6f65c4533 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import os
 import sys
 
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('lib'))
-from ansible import __version__, __author__
+from ansible.release import __version__, __author__
 try:
     from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 except ImportError:
diff --git a/test/units/plugins/action/test_action.py b/test/units/plugins/action/test_action.py
index d0ea6ac789a..e9b608790f5 100644
--- a/test/units/plugins/action/test_action.py
+++ b/test/units/plugins/action/test_action.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     import __builtin__ as builtins
 
-from ansible import __version__ as ansible_version
+from ansible.release import __version__ as ansible_version
 from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible.compat.six import text_type
 from ansible.compat.tests import unittest
diff --git a/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py b/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
index e8b48afcf1f..682a5ea8ce0 100644
--- a/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
+++ b/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
@@ -53,11 +53,15 @@ class TestErrors(unittest.TestCase):
         # python library, and then uses the __file__ attribute of
         # the result for that to get the library path, so we mock
         # that here and patch the builtin to use our mocked result
-        m = MagicMock()
-        m.return_value.__file__ = '/path/to/my/test.py'
+        foo = MagicMock()
+        bar = MagicMock()
+        bam = MagicMock()
+        bam.__file__ = '/path/to/my/foo/bar/bam/__init__.py'
+        bar.bam = bam
+        foo.return_value.bar = bar
         pl = PluginLoader('test', 'foo.bar.bam', 'test', 'test_plugin')
-        with patch('{0}.__import__'.format(BUILTINS), m):
-            self.assertEqual(pl._get_package_paths(), ['/path/to/my/bar/bam'])
+        with patch('{0}.__import__'.format(BUILTINS), foo):
+            self.assertEqual(pl._get_package_paths(), ['/path/to/my/foo/bar/bam'])
 
     def test_plugins__get_paths(self):
         pl = PluginLoader('test', '', 'test', 'test_plugin')