About Metapackages

A metapackage is used to bundle multiple packages/metapackages together into one install. The packages can be required or optional. Like a package, a metapackage can have metadata and scripts associated with it.

The packages bundled with a metapackage can be inside the metapackage, on the same level as the metapackage, or at a custom location.
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A metapackage (with extension .mpkg) is an OS X bundle, meaning that it appears as a single file in the Finder, but is really a directory. The structure of a metapackage is as follows:

The italicized items can be created by PackageMaker. The package author is responsible for all other items. For a metapackage with packages inside the metapackage, you will need to copy the packages yourself.