sysct/kernel variables error

[Nathan Sprangers <farruinn@hotpop.com>]

I recently upgraded to unstable (in fact, I wiped the hard drive and 
partitioned more room for linux) so now I have the luxury of XFree86 
4.2, however my mouse button emulation is not working.
I tried setting:
/proc/sys/dev/mac_hid/mouse_button_emulation=1
/proc/sys/dev/mac_hid/mouse_button2_keycode=88
/proc/sys/dev/mac_hid/mouse_button3_keycode=125

but at boot a message displays saying "Setting kernel variables.error: 
/proc/sys/dev/mac_hid/[etc.] is an unknown key.  mouse_button_emulation 
is then reset to 0, and the other two values are at their default as 
well.  I've entered those lines in sysctl.conf as well as trying echo 88 
> mouse_button2_keycode for example, but nothing seems to work.

This is a very perplexing problem and I can find no mention of anything 
like this in the archives, so if anyone has any insight it would be 
greatly appreciated.

thanks!
-nathan