I have a question regarding the installing and deploying an application to an application server. This scenario involves a WAR file for a Tomcat configuration. One of our requirements is that we have an installer for the product (which includes the WAR file, some documentation, etc.)
Is it better to
A. Have an installer that also installs the JRE, Tomcat, the database software, etc.
OR
B. Have an installer that creates a directory with the WAR file, some example of how to setup the server.xml file, and the supporting documentation. The expectation being that the user would copy the WAR file themselves to the webapps directory.
The concern I have with A is that is get complicated when the user has an install already, and I suspect that most admins would rather the installer not mess with the system configuration.
A third alternative is allowing the user to individually choose what to install. But I tend to get annoyed with installers that ask lots of questions.
Does anyone know of good examples of products that handle the installation process well (however they choose to do it)?