GNU Emacs Manual - Bug Criteria Go to the first , previous , next , last section, table of contents . If Emacs updates the display in a way that does not correspond to what is in the buffer, then it is certainly a bug. If a command seems to do the wrong thing but the problem corrects itself if you type C-l , it is a case of incorrect display updating. Taking forever to complete a command can be a bug, but you must make certain that it was really Emacs's fault.
Some commands simply take a long time.
If you don't know whether the command should take a long time, find out by looking in the manual or by asking for assistance. If a command you are familiar with causes an Emacs error message in a case where its usual definition ought to be reasonable, it is probably a bug. If a command does the wrong thing, that is a bug. But be sure you know for certain what it ought to have done. If you aren't familiar with the command, or don't know for certain how the command is supposed to work, then it might actually be working right.