I don't propose to make any changes to `fileConfig()`, for the following reasons:

1. It's not a bug, because there is no requirement to do what you suggest. You could (a) either not mention the handler in the config if you aren't going to use it, (b) use a delay parameter so the file opening is deferred until it's first needed, or (c) specify a file location which is accessible to the running process.

2. While it is not deprecated, the fileConfig() API has been supplanted by the dictConfig() API and is not receiving any functional changes. For the specific case you mention, dictConfig() would behave similarly to fileConfig(), and this wouldn't be a bug either: please use an approach such as those suggested in my earlier point to overcome your problem.