diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/app_frontend_base.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/app_frontend_base.pp
index 19140388c6..afa6e33a5e 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip/manifests/app_frontend_base.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/app_frontend_base.pp
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class zulip::app_frontend_base {
     # Needed to access our database
     "postgresql-client-${zulip::base::postgres_version}",
   ]
-  safepackage { $web_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
+  zulip::safepackage { $web_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
 
   file { '/etc/nginx/zulip-include/app':
     require => Package['nginx-full'],
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/base.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/base.pp
index c926072730..796031fb16 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip/manifests/base.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/base.pp
@@ -1,10 +1,3 @@
-# TODO: Move this to a proper types file
-define safepackage ( $ensure = present ) {
-  if !defined(Package[$title]) {
-    package { $title: ensure => $ensure }
-  }
-}
-
 class zulip::base {
   include apt
   $base_packages = [
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_appdb_base.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_appdb_base.pp
index 15e43ee778..04981195d1 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_appdb_base.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_appdb_base.pp
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class zulip::postgres_appdb_base {
     # Needed for our full text search system
     "postgresql-${zulip::base::postgres_version}-tsearch-extras",
   ]
-  safepackage { $appdb_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
+  zulip::safepackage { $appdb_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
 
   # We bundle a bunch of other sysctl parameters into 40-postgresql.conf
   file { '/etc/sysctl.d/30-postgresql-shm.conf':
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_common.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_common.pp
index 87862badf7..b737447f9f 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_common.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_common.pp
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ class zulip::postgres_common {
                         # Postgres Nagios check plugin
                         'check-postgres',
                         ]
-  safepackage { $postgres_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
+  zulip::safepackage { $postgres_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
 
   exec { 'disable_logrotate':
     # lint:ignore:140chars
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/process_fts_updates.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/process_fts_updates.pp
index 87cf4e3f30..2f5987434e 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip/manifests/process_fts_updates.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/process_fts_updates.pp
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ class zulip::process_fts_updates {
     # Needed to run process_fts_updates
     'python3-psycopg2', # TODO: use a virtualenv instead
   ]
-  safepackage { $fts_updates_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
+  zulip::safepackage { $fts_updates_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
 
   file { '/usr/local/bin/process_fts_updates':
     ensure => file,
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/safepackage.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/safepackage.pp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5fe7621ca4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/safepackage.pp
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+define zulip::safepackage ( $ensure = present ) {
+  if !defined(Package[$title]) {
+    package { $title: ensure => $ensure }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/static_asset_compiler.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/static_asset_compiler.pp
index ef241e9ad3..fe4f5e9b1e 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip/manifests/static_asset_compiler.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/static_asset_compiler.pp
@@ -12,5 +12,5 @@ class zulip::static_asset_compiler {
     'gettext',
   ]
 
-  safepackage { $static_asset_compiler_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
+  zulip::safepackage { $static_asset_compiler_packages: ensure => 'installed' }
 }