1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are configurable to cause the one or more processors to: install a base software package having one or more custom metadata types, the software package having computer-executable code that, when executed, causes one or more processors to perform one or more tasks that comprise at least accessing records of the one or more custom metadata types; access one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types, wherein, for the protected records, code in the base software package can read the protected records and can return the records whether protected or not, and if an extension package contains additional records of the base package custom metadata types, code in the base package can also read the protected records in the extension package and can return the records whether protected or not; and return information stored in the one or more custom metadata records that has been accessed.