More than one WordPress site using the same database - how to disable plugin for one site?

Question

I am going to have two WordPress websites running off the same database, so that they both have the same products set (each post is a product) but they have different homepages, about us pages, etc. thanks to the themes of each site. (Note: NOT using MU).

But there is once concern: <title> and <meta> tags on the site.

I want the mini-site to have completely separate tags, as it has a different identity. So I will use custom fields in the posts to set the tags for each domain but herein lies the problem: I already have an SEO plugin installed and loads of custom tags, so how do I disable that plugin for the new site only?

I assume that if I just omit the files for that plugin on one of the installs then WordPress will detect that it is not there, and disable it in the DB, so it will disable for both sites.

Does anyone know the answer?

Answer 1

Hm... In more pure sense of the question I suppose you could filter active_plugins option on retrieval via option_active_plugins filter and throw plugin out for one of the sites. But I won't try to predict what this can cause to active/inactive state in your situation. :)

I think more practical solution would be to figure out functions and hooks that SEO plugin uses and unhook them. Hopefully plugin you use is coded decently enough for that to be possible without much trouble.

One more idea - dump plugin in mu-plugins for one of the sites so it is forcefully active for it.