diff --git a/.ci/validate_test_tools.sh b/.ci/validate_test_tools.sh
index 9b43e7a6c46..258799dc95d 100755
--- a/.ci/validate_test_tools.sh
+++ b/.ci/validate_test_tools.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-cd `dirname $0`/..
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"/..
 
 xsd_path="lib/galaxy/tools/xsd/galaxy.xsd"
 # Lint the XSD
 xmllint --noout "$xsd_path"
 
 test_tools_path='test/functional/tools'
-tool_files_list=$(ls "$test_tools_path"/*xml | grep -v '_conf.xml$')
+tool_files_list=$(ls "$test_tools_path"/*.xml | grep -v '_conf.xml$')
 sh scripts/validate_tools.sh $tool_files_list
diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 7cac35497e7..32dfbce7036 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ variables:
 jobs:
   get_code:
     docker:
-      - image: circleci/python:2.7.15
+      - image: circleci/python:3.5
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       # Replace standard code checkout with shallow clone to speed things up.
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ jobs:
             - ~/repo
   py27_lint:
     docker:
-      - image: circleci/python:2.7.15
+      - image: circleci/python:2.7
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       - *restore_repo_cache
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: tox -e py27-lint
   py27_unit:
     docker:
-      - image: circleci/python:2.7.15
+      - image: circleci/python:2.7
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       - *restore_repo_cache
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: tox -e py27-unit
   py27_docstring:
     docker:
-      - image: circleci/python:2.7.15
+      - image: circleci/python:2.7
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       - *restore_repo_cache
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: tox -e py27-lint_docstring_include_list
   py27_first_startup:
     docker:
-      - image: circleci/python:2.7.15
+      - image: circleci/python:2.7
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       - *restore_repo_cache
@@ -139,14 +139,14 @@ jobs:
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       - *restore_repo_cache
-      - *install_tox
       - run: sudo apt-get update
       # For uwsgi
       - run: sudo apt-get install -y libpython3.5-dev
+      - *install_tox
       - run: tox -e py35-first_startup
   validate_test_tools:
     docker:
-      - image: circleci/python:2.7.15
+      - image: circleci/python:3.5
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       - *restore_repo_cache
@@ -160,10 +160,11 @@ jobs:
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       - *restore_repo_cache
-      - run: bash packages/test.sh
+      - *install_tox
+      - run: tox -e test_galaxy_packages
   check_py3_compatibility:
     docker:
-      - image: circleci/python:2.7.15
+      - image: circleci/python:3.5
     <<: *set_workdir
     steps:
       - *restore_repo_cache
diff --git a/packages/test.sh b/packages/test.sh
index 5deb29bf919..d311a4d5ed1 100755
--- a/packages/test.sh
+++ b/packages/test.sh
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ set -e
 # Change to packages directory.
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 
+# Use a throw-away virtualenv
 TEST_PYTHON=${TEST_PYTHON:-"python"}
-TEST_ENV_DIR=${TEST_ENV_DIR:-`mktemp -d -t gxpkgtestenvXXXXXX`}
+TEST_ENV_DIR=${TEST_ENV_DIR:-$(mktemp -d -t gxpkgtestenvXXXXXX)}
 
 virtualenv -p "$TEST_PYTHON" "$TEST_ENV_DIR"
 . "${TEST_ENV_DIR}/bin/activate"
@@ -31,13 +32,11 @@ for ((i=0; i<${#PACKAGE_DIRS[@]}; i++)); do
 
     cd "$package_dir"
     pip install -e .
-    if [ "$package_dir" = "util" ];
-    then
+    if [ "$package_dir" = "util" ]; then
         pip install -e '.[template,jstree]'
     fi
 
-    if [[ "$run_tests" == "1" ]];
-    then
+    if [[ "$run_tests" == "1" ]]; then
         pytest --doctest-modules galaxy tests
     fi
     cd ..
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 9904d2a82f1..0aec466cf97 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [tox]
 # envlist is the list of environments that are tested when `tox` is run without any option
 # hyphens in an environment name are used to delimit factors
-envlist = check_py3_compatibility, py{27,35}-first_startup, py{27,35}-lint, py27-lint_docstring_include_list, py{27,35}-unit, validate_test_tools
+envlist = check_py3_compatibility, py{27,35}-first_startup, py{27,35}-lint, py27-lint_docstring_include_list, py{27,35}-unit, test_galaxy_packages, validate_test_tools
 skipsdist = True
 
 [testenv]
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ commands = bash .ci/flake8_wrapper_docstrings.sh --exclude
 [testenv:py27-lint_docstring_include_list]
 commands = bash .ci/flake8_wrapper_docstrings.sh --include
 
+[testenv:test_galaxy_packages]
+commands = bash packages/test.sh
+
 [testenv:validate_test_tools]
 commands = bash .ci/validate_test_tools.sh