diff --git a/pynipap/Makefile b/pynipap/Makefile
index bb36dfbea..afd73a212 100644
--- a/pynipap/Makefile
+++ b/pynipap/Makefile
@@ -49,6 +49,6 @@ clean:
 VER := $(shell head -n1 ../NEWS | awk '{print $$2}')
 bumpversion:
 	# replace version number in pynipap.py
-	sed -i 's/\(__version__\s*= \)"[^"]\+"/\1"$(VER)"/' pynipap.py
+	sed -i 's/\(__version__\s*= \)"[^"]\+"/\1"$(VER)"/' pynipap/__init__.py
 	#         # update debian/changelog
 	../utilities/news2dch.py ../NEWS debian/changelog
diff --git a/pynipap/pynipap/__init__.py b/pynipap/pynipap/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c80b8a467
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pynipap/pynipap/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+from .pynipap import *
+
+__version__     = "0.32.5"
+__author__      = "Kristian Larsson, Lukas Garberg"
+__author_email__= "kll@tele2.net, lukas@spritelink.net"
+__copyright__   = "Copyright 2011, Kristian Larsson, Lukas Garberg"
+__license__     = "MIT"
+__status__      = "Development"
+__url__         = "http://SpriteLink.github.io/NIPAP"
+
+
+# This variable holds the URI to the nipap XML-RPC service which will be used.
+# It must be set before the Pynipap can be used!
+xmlrpc_uri = None
+
+# If set, the value assigned to the variable below will be used as a bearer
+# token.
+bearer_token = None
+
+# Caching of objects is enabled per default but can be disabled for certain
+# scenarios. Since we don't have any cache expiration time it can be useful to
+# disable for long running applications.
+CACHE = True
diff --git a/pynipap/pynipap.py b/pynipap/pynipap/pynipap.py
similarity index 98%
rename from pynipap/pynipap.py
rename to pynipap/pynipap/pynipap.py
index 6827f4315..62e7d9fd4 100644
--- a/pynipap/pynipap.py
+++ b/pynipap/pynipap/pynipap.py
@@ -209,27 +209,7 @@
 import xmlrpc.client as xmlrpclib
 import urllib.parse
 
-from tracing import create_span
-
-__version__		= "0.32.5"
-__author__		= "Kristian Larsson, Lukas Garberg"
-__author_email__= "kll@tele2.net, lukas@spritelink.net"
-__copyright__	= "Copyright 2011, Kristian Larsson, Lukas Garberg"
-__license__		= "MIT"
-__status__		= "Development"
-__url__			= "http://SpriteLink.github.io/NIPAP"
-
-
-# This variable holds the URI to the nipap XML-RPC service which will be used.
-# It must be set before the Pynipap can be used!
-xmlrpc_uri = None
-bearer_token = None
-
-# Caching of objects is enabled per default but can be disabled for certain
-# scenarios. Since we don't have any cache expiration time it can be useful to
-# disable for long running applications.
-CACHE = True
-
+from .tracing import create_span
 class AuthOptions:
     """ A global-ish authentication option container.
 
@@ -261,8 +241,6 @@ class XMLRPCConnection:
     """ Handles a shared XML-RPC connection.
     """
 
-    __shared_state = {}
-
     connection = None
     _logger = None
 
@@ -275,13 +253,19 @@ def __init__(self):
             variable is set.
         """
 
+        # This is not a pretty solution, but needed to maintain backwards
+        # compatibility and avoiding circular imports.
+        from . import xmlrpc_uri, bearer_token, CACHE as cache_enabled
+        global CACHE
+        CACHE = cache_enabled
+
         if xmlrpc_uri is None:
             raise NipapError('XML-RPC URI not specified')
 
         p = urllib.parse.urlsplit(xmlrpc_uri)
 
         try:
-            from tracing import TracingXMLTransport, TracingXMLSafeTransport
+            from .tracing import TracingXMLTransport, TracingXMLSafeTransport
             if p.scheme == "http":
                 xml_transport = TracingXMLTransport
             elif p.scheme == "https":
@@ -1521,6 +1505,10 @@ class NipapAuthorizationError(NipapAuthError):
     'VRF': {}
 }
 
+# Will be overwritten by import from . when setting up XML-RPC-connection, but
+# needs to be defined here if it's read before the connections is set up.
+CACHE = False
+
 # Map from XML-RPC Fault codes to Exception classes
 _fault_to_exception_map = {
     1000: NipapError,
diff --git a/pynipap/tracing.py b/pynipap/pynipap/tracing.py
similarity index 99%
rename from pynipap/tracing.py
rename to pynipap/pynipap/tracing.py
index 3e3a4d653..171cccce4 100644
--- a/pynipap/tracing.py
+++ b/pynipap/pynipap/tracing.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def decorated(*args, **kwargs):
             """
             """
 
-            from pynipap import AuthOptions
+            from . import AuthOptions
             signature = inspect.signature(f)
 
             if args[0].__class__ == type:
diff --git a/pynipap/setup.py b/pynipap/setup.py
index a0490477b..80240feab 100644
--- a/pynipap/setup.py
+++ b/pynipap/setup.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
         author_email = pynipap.__author_email__,
         license = pynipap.__license__,
         url = pynipap.__url__,
-        py_modules = ['pynipap','tracing'],
+        packages = ['pynipap'],
         keywords = ['nipap'],
         classifiers = [
             'Development Status :: 4 - Beta',
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
             'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
             'Natural Language :: English',
             'Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux',
-            'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-            'Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: WSGI :: Middleware'
+            'Programming Language :: Python :: 3'
             ]
 )