Quoting Dave Burgess,

> Whenever I try to run an ELF or COFF binary, I get the following error:

> ./linux.x86: 1: Syntax error: "(" unexpected

> This one happens to be from the 'StarOffice' installation.  A 'file' in
> linux.x86 confirms the following:

> inst-files/linux.x86: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1

If it's a dynamically linked binary, what you could be seeing is
a missing dynamic linker. Try to run the following program as 
<whatever> linux.x86 and tell me what it says.

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#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/exec_elf.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  int fd, i;
  char *interp;
  Elf32_Ehdr hdr;
  Elf32_Phdr ph;
  off_t pos;

  if (argc != 2) {
    fprintf(stderr, "Usage: elfdump <file>\n");
    exit(1);
  }

  if ((fd = open(argv[1], O_RDONLY)) < 0) {
    perror(argv[1]);
    exit(1);
  }

  if (read(fd, &hdr, sizeof hdr) < sizeof hdr ||
      strncmp(hdr.e_ident, Elf32_e_ident, Elf32_e_siz)) {
    fprintf(stderr, "%s: not an ELF binary.\n");
    exit(1);
  }

  printf("file type:             %d\n", hdr.e_type);
  printf("machine type:          %d\n", hdr.e_machine);
  printf("version:               %d\n", hdr.e_version);
  printf("program header offset: %x\n", hdr.e_phoff);
  printf("section header offset: %x\n", hdr.e_shoff);
  printf("processor flags:       %x\n", hdr.e_flags);
  printf("entry:                 %x\n", hdr.e_entry);

  if (lseek(fd, hdr.e_phoff, SEEK_SET) < 0) {
    perror("lseek");
    exit(1);
  }

  for (i = 0; i < hdr.e_phnum; i++) {
    if (read(fd, &ph, sizeof ph) < sizeof ph) {
      fprintf(stderr, "I/O error examining ELF sections.\n");
      exit(1);
    }

    if (ph.p_type == Elf32_pt_interp) {
      pos = lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_CUR);
      interp = (char *) malloc(ph.p_filesz);
      if (lseek(fd, ph.p_offset, SEEK_SET) < 0) {
        perror("lseek");
        exit(1);
      }
      read(fd, interp, ph.p_filesz);
      lseek(fd, pos, SEEK_SET);
      printf("interpreter:           %s\n", interp);
      continue;
    }

    if (ph.p_type == Elf32_pt_load) {
      printf("loadable section:      %x (prot %x)\n", ph.p_vaddr, ph.p_flags);
      continue;
    }

    if (ph.p_type == Elf32_pt_phdr) {
      printf("program header:        %x \n", ph.p_vaddr);
      continue;
    }

    if (ph.p_type == Elf32_pt_note)
      printf("note section found.\n");
  }
  return 0;
}

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