Help with cups 1.2.7 under OSX?

[Aaron Howell]

Hi,
I've made rather a mess of the printer setup on an OSX 10.4.8 box and would like some help to fix it if possible.
I upgraded to cups 1.2.7, by downloading the .dmg file and installing the resultant package from the cups website.
This replaced the standard OSX installation of cups.
I can print locally just fine (as I could before), however, something about the setup of the new cups (perhaps the config file syntax)? has upset Apple's system preferences to the point where I can no longer enable printer sharing.
The checkbox refuses to change state,
and the console reports the following error.
2006-11-22 23:06:21.501 writeconfig[268] Printer Sharing 'set' Error: ffffffff
While this in itself is not too serious, (I could edit cupsd.conf by hand), it leads to a more serious issue, in that if OSX thinks printer sharing is turned off, then it won't let you enable cups traffic through the firewall.
This one I can't fix on my own, at least, not without having it reset on a frequent basis when someone goes into system preferences.
Does anyone have any idea how to fool system preferences into allowing me to enable printer sharing and hence the firewall change?
I would be most appreciative of any help, as right now my fiance is very angry with me for breaking her Mac. :(