(I've also tried setting up libpcre in my own account, but the tintin++ configure program can't find my personally-installed pcre.h.)
Come to think of it, tintin++ is something other Debian users might use. I would have no objections if you install it for the whole Debian server, too.

UPDATE: The configure error indicates that I need the development version of libpcre, which I think means libpcre3-dev. Also, while you've got your magic install wand out, could you install the same libpcre development package on Netbsd, too?