I've heard some packages being classified as a meta-package. So now I am left wondering what is the difference between a meta-package and a package?
From https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MetaPackages:
These packages do not contain actual software, they simply depend on other packages to be installed.
It is important to note that removing a meta package does NOT remove the packages it installed:
[...] when a metapackage is automatically removed by the removal or purging of any one, or more, of its underlying dependencies, all of the other packages that were in the metapackage's depends list are still installed on the system.
You can look at the structure of a typical meta-package by pulling (for example) ubuntu-desktop:
apt-get source ubuntu-desktop
Looking at the structure, you'll find the list of packages each meta-package recommends, as well as the structure of putting it all together in debian/rules.
References:
