How to fix permission denied for .git/ directory when performing git push?
On the server I ran sudo chown -R git:git /srv/git/ - this fixed my problem but I am wondering if this was the correct thing to do?
Absolutely. The problem previously was that the git user, who you're logging in as via SSH, could not write to the repository.
Depending on your needs, you may consider different combinations of users and SSH keys, or one of the many additional programs (gitolite etc) that can be used to more finely control access.
First, fix file permissions in your remote .git dir e.g.
sudo chmod -R ug+w /var/www/.gitsudo chown -R git:git /var/www/.gitor root:root if you want to assign members of root group for push access.
Then git repository on the destination host needs to be set as shared, so the following command on remote needs to be run:
git config core.sharedRepository group