Forward porting a package

["Boylan, Ross" <Ross.Boylan@ucsf.edu>]

I am trying to build db4.2 in jessie, although the package is from wheezy.  I only need db4.2-util.  I got the source and modified changed tcl8.4 to tcl8.6 in rules and control.  But the build (invoked with dpkg-buildpackage) fails while running configure with
checking size of char *... 0
checking for off_t... no
configure: error: No off_t type.
debian/rules:64: recipe for target 'build' failed
make: *** [build] Error 1

There are also earlier warnings about some headers that are present but can not be compiled, as well as an apparent failure to find any of the standard types
checking for inttypes.h... (cached) yes
checking for char... no
checking size of char... 0
checking for unsigned char... no
checking size of unsigned char... 0
checking for short... no
checking size of short... 0
checking for unsigned short... no
checking size of unsigned short... 0
checking for int... no
checking size of int... 0
checking for unsigned int... no
checking size of unsigned int... 0
checking for long... no
checking size of long... 0
checking for unsigned long... no
checking size of unsigned long... 0
checking for size_t... no
checking size of size_t... 0
checking for char *... no
checking size of char *... 0

Any suggestions?  Would rerunning autoconf be likely to help?

The help for "present but could not be compiled" indicates the relevant macros should be invoked with additional arguments, though I'm not sure what the missing files are.

Context: I'm trying to migrate an old installation of cyrus and the upgrade process needs to use tools that match the bdb version it uses.

Thanks for any assistance.  cc's appreciated.
Ross Boylan