Specifically, I am looking to describe a person whose only purpose is to help others, not caring about what happens to  himself or herself (physically or otherwise), though without actively seeking pain.


Question: Adding lines to /etc/profile with puppet?
Answer: Add a file to /etc/profile.d/ with the suffix .sh.  It will be sourced as part of /etc/profile in Red Hat and Debian and derivatives, can't say on other distros.  Generally speaking, if at all possible, it's better to add snippets rather than replace distributed files as it tends to be more future safe.

So in puppet, the following would do:

file { "/etc/profile.d/set_java_home.sh":
    ensure =&gt; present,
    source =&gt; ...[whatever's appropriate for your setup]...,
    ...
}


This what you're looking for or do you need more detail?