Context:

I'm using a custom Handler that relies on a third-party library that may not be present

try:
  from acme.logging import CustomHandler as BaseHandler
except ImportError:
  import logging.NullHandler as BaseHandler

class MoreCustomHandler(BaseHandler):
  def handle(self):
    self.stuff()

The logging configuration has some arguments for the CustomHandler. The problem is that the NullHandler does not accept them.

I expected it to be a "dummy" handler that might accept any argument

> I expected it to be a "dummy" handler that might accept any argument

I don't know why you expected that, but your expectation wasn't valid. You will need to define your own BaseHandler which handles any arguments passed by your logging configuration.

NullHandler's __init__ is inherited from logging.Handler. There are no plans to change that. The documentation for it states:

"The NullHandler class, located in the core logging package, does not do any formatting or output. It is essentially a ‘no-op’ handler for use by library developers."

This does not indicate that it is suitable for use as a base class. If you want to use a base class for your handler, use logging.Handler.