[wp-hackers] distinguish plugin options?

[Stephen Rider]

Okay, I have a quandry.

I'm trying to figure out if there's any way to distinguish, in the  
wp_options table, core WordPress options from options set by plugins.   
The only way I can think to do this is to (shudder) maintain a list of  
WP Core options, and if a particular option isn't on that list it must  
be from a plugin.

That isn't a very good solution because it's fragile and manpower  
intensive -- I would have to maintain that list vigilantly and  
basically forever....

Does anyone else have any suggestion as to how this might be  
accomplished?

This all relates to my Virtual Multiblog system -- a commenter on my  
blog had what I thought was an excellent idea, but I don't see how to  
implement it well, unless I can distinguish third-party options from  
core.  Here's a link to the original discussion:

http://striderweb.com/nerdaphernalia/?p=236&cp=1#comment-2133

Stephen