diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 4fe284fb0..4dcb2f7ed 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -478,6 +478,7 @@ script:
         python setup.py bdist_wheel;
         python setup.py install;
         python -m unittest testdata/pymod/import_db.py  testdata/pymod/import_rdb.py testdata/pymod/import_tl.py;
+        python testdata/pymod/pya_tests.py;
         klayout_version=$(python -c 'import setup; print(setup.Config().version())');
         mkdir -p deploy/dist-pymod/$klayout_version;
         cp -a dist/* deploy/dist-pymod/$klayout_version;
diff --git a/ci-scripts/docker/docker_build.sh b/ci-scripts/docker/docker_build.sh
index b511f879f..2f6d68710 100755
--- a/ci-scripts/docker/docker_build.sh
+++ b/ci-scripts/docker/docker_build.sh
@@ -69,3 +69,5 @@ TEST_HOME=/io/testdata
 "/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python" $TEST_HOME/pymod/import_db.py || exit 1
 "/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python" $TEST_HOME/pymod/import_rdb.py || exit 1
 "/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python" $TEST_HOME/pymod/import_tl.py || exit 1
+"/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python" $TEST_HOME/pymod/pya_tests.py || exit 1
+
diff --git a/src/pymod/__init__.py.qtless b/src/pymod/__init__.py.qtless
index dce96f8e4..6aef40aa9 100644
--- a/src/pymod/__init__.py.qtless
+++ b/src/pymod/__init__.py.qtless
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-
 # klayout library definition file
 
-__all__ = [ "tl", "db", "lay", "rdb" ]
+__all__ = [ "tl", "db", "rdb" ]
 
diff --git a/src/pymod/distutils_src/pya/__init__.py b/src/pymod/distutils_src/pya/__init__.py
index ae97d592a..70e2f49b9 100644
--- a/src/pymod/distutils_src/pya/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pymod/distutils_src/pya/__init__.py
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
+# import all packages from klayout, such as klayout.db and klayout.tl
+# WARNING: doing it manually until it becomes impractical
+# TODO: We need a specification document explaining what should go into pya
 
-import klayout
-import importlib
-
-__all__ = []
-for m in klayout.__all__:
-  mod = importlib.import_module("klayout." + m)
-  for mm in mod.__all__:
-    globals()[mm] = getattr(mod, mm)
-
+from klayout.db import *  # noqa
+from klayout.tl import *  # noqa
+from klayout.rdb import *  # noqa