diff --git a/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/pkg/test-pkgs/pkg-test-ancient.plt b/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/pkg/test-pkgs/pkg-test-ancient.plt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3aa08d04dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/pkg/test-pkgs/pkg-test-ancient.plt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+H4sIAFKPSVIAA4VRy04DMQy85yui7YEsUkCCD+AHOHDgB9yst7U2ryZORfv1OLSLqFSJnJyZ
+8cTjfLx/KuMhbCfQpuChYWU9A/lWcNTGQUW9wsZECIIOLDebl52F6AgjD6I0LWZwCxapDy0x
+6nCubo/S0NnuQQXrL2vGH9ylOHty/Icwd/wv4uzZFvTAdMS3UW94Bfcp4A0zd+ZiI/REpV5B
+9BLIrAHlKBmcJBuFnArrABStS96jzGQzFHm+90uaFhl6OvzqSimukD4mmm5yKWlQZlhthnsb
+UzN5/Eekhz7OU1m6/uVVPW48xJ0ufc/8vJW/UQ8nBPUNuMmvW8UBAAA=
diff --git a/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/pkg/tests-install.rkt b/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/pkg/tests-install.rkt
index 83a7457e44..332a12b8c8 100644
--- a/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/pkg/tests-install.rkt
+++ b/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/pkg/tests-install.rkt
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@
                     "test-pkgs/pkg-test1.zip test-pkgs/pkg-test3.zip" 
                     "pkg-test1 pkg-test3")
 
+   (with-fake-root
+    (shelly-case
+     "local package (old plt)" 
+     $ "raco pkg install test-pkgs/pkg-test-ancient.plt"
+     $ "racket -l test-pkg-ancient" =stdout> "'yea\n"
+     $ "raco pkg remove pkg-test-ancient"))
+
    (shelly-case
     "invalid package format is an error"
     $ "raco pkg install test-pkgs/pkg-test1.zip.CHECKSUM" =exit> 1)
diff --git a/racket/collects/pkg/lib.rkt b/racket/collects/pkg/lib.rkt
index a870ea9d53..5c05838eeb 100644
--- a/racket/collects/pkg/lib.rkt
+++ b/racket/collects/pkg/lib.rkt
@@ -1090,7 +1090,17 @@
                       (lambda (x) (log-pkg-debug "~a" x))
                       (lambda () pkg-dir)
                       #f
-                      (lambda (auto-dir main-dir file) pkg-dir))]
+                      (lambda (auto-dir main-dir file) pkg-dir))
+              (define info-path (build-path pkg-dir "info.rkt"))
+              (unless (file-exists? info-path)
+                ;; Add in "info.rkt" file to make it multi-collection,
+                ;; since a ".plt" archive is never single-collection. This
+                ;; is needed for supporting old ".plt" archives as packages.
+                (call-with-output-file info-path
+                  (lambda (o)
+                    (fprintf o "#lang setup/infotab\n")
+                    (write '(define collection 'multi) o)
+                    (newline o))))]
              [x
               (pkg-error "invalid package format\n  given: ~a" x)])