The 2.7.8 documentation for fileConfig says that for disable_existing_loggers:

"If specified as False, loggers which exist when this call is made are left alone."

This is actually not the case- they are enabled after the call to fileConfig. In particular, the loggers that would be disabled if disable_existing_loggers=True are enabled after the call, regardless of whether they were previously enabled/disabled.

New changeset 17e1af9ad66c by Vinay Sajip in branch '2.7':
Issue #22130: Corrected fileConfig() documentation.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/17e1af9ad66c

New changeset 734d5ab0ce6a by Vinay Sajip in branch '3.4':
Issue #22130: Corrected fileConfig() documentation.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/734d5ab0ce6a

New changeset 29665ab293fa by Vinay Sajip in branch 'default':
Closes #22130: Merged documentation update from 3.4.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/29665ab293fa

Hi there,
  I appreciate the change to documentation but still find the updated wording misleading.  Existing loggers are not "left enabled," implying that existing loggers that were disabled before the call to fileConfig remain disabled after the call to fileConfig.  It is this point in particular that was problematic for our organization.

Actually, 'left enabled' means that they are left in an enabled state when the fileConfig() code is finished with them. This is unconnected with whatever state they might have had before the call to fileConfig(). I'm not sure it's worth belabouring the point too much, though.