diff --git a/linux-user/linuxload.c b/linux-user/linuxload.c
index b47025f08a7a14ea516fe5f82679782ae02394f7..381ab8914be016349d4fafadf6997d7eb0abfd8d 100644
--- a/linux-user/linuxload.c
+++ b/linux-user/linuxload.c
@@ -140,8 +140,9 @@ int loader_exec(const char * filename, char ** argv, char ** envp,
     bprm->p = TARGET_PAGE_SIZE*MAX_ARG_PAGES-sizeof(unsigned int);
     memset(bprm->page, 0, sizeof(bprm->page));
     retval = open(filename, O_RDONLY);
-    if (retval < 0)
-        return retval;
+    if (retval < 0) {
+        return -errno;
+    }
     bprm->fd = retval;
     bprm->filename = (char *)filename;
     bprm->argc = count(argv);
@@ -165,8 +166,7 @@ int loader_exec(const char * filename, char ** argv, char ** envp,
             retval = load_flt_binary(bprm,regs,infop);
 #endif
         } else {
-            fprintf(stderr, "Unknown binary format\n");
-            return -1;
+            return -ENOEXEC;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/linux-user/main.c b/linux-user/main.c
index 9f3476ba5739a0a366928a9865852d31f5d57445..bcaadb67cbb378f6314f230fac1f60f3851abbc9 100644
--- a/linux-user/main.c
+++ b/linux-user/main.c
@@ -3569,7 +3569,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     ret = loader_exec(filename, target_argv, target_environ, regs,
         info, &bprm);
     if (ret != 0) {
-        printf("Error %d while loading %s\n", ret, filename);
+        printf("Error while loading %s: %s\n", filename, strerror(-ret));
         _exit(1);
     }