diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index 152bdd4ac8..7f656d09ff 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -1274,10 +1274,8 @@ AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(unsigned long)
 AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(unsigned int)
 AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T
 AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T
-AC_CHECK_TYPE(ssize_t, int)
-AC_CHECK_TYPE([sig_atomic_t], ,
-    [AC_DEFINE([sig_atomic_t], [int],
-        [Define to int if <signal.h> does not define.])],
+AC_CHECK_TYPES([ssize_t])
+AC_CHECK_TYPES([sig_atomic_t],[],[],
 [#include <sys/types.h>
 #include <signal.h>])
 AC_SIZEOF_TYPE(long)
diff --git a/src/config/stds.h b/src/config/stds.h
index 403284cc38..a9d22f530c 100644
--- a/src/config/stds.h
+++ b/src/config/stds.h
@@ -51,6 +51,14 @@ pragma Off(Prototype_override_warnings);
 #define MIN_AFS_INT64 (-MAX_AFS_INT64 - 1)
 #define MAX_AFS_UINT64 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFL
 
+#ifndef HAVE_SSIZE_T
+typedef int ssize_t;
+#endif
+
+#ifndef HAVE_SIG_ATOMIC_T
+typedef int sig_atomic_t;
+#endif
+
 typedef short afs_int16;
 typedef unsigned short afs_uint16;
 #ifdef  AFS_64BIT_ENV