I would appreciate some feedback on whether the following scheme is feasible or will prove unworkable. I have a few specific questions at the bottom.

Components

• An archive of documents to be shared amongst computers
• A server that stores the archive and retains all of its contents
• A set of client machines that store only the files that they need and drop the rest

Desired behavior

• Clients will run the assistant to handle sync'ing
• On the server, the archive should be accessible in the working tree so that other users can read the files (they do not need write access).
• It should be possible to modify the archive on the server while logged into the server
• Clients can push and pull data. The server does not push or pull data.

Basic setup

Set up the server and one client

• Create git annex repos on the client and server
• Add the server as a remote in the client repo

Keep the server's working directory up to date

• Add git merge synced/master master to the annex-content hook described here.
• Add git merge synced/master master to the post-receive hook.

Keep server working tree visible to a different group

• Set git config core.sharedrepository group for the repository
• Add chgrp -R shared "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)" to the annex-content, post-receive, and post-merge hooks, where shared is the name of the group that you want to be able to access the server files.

Questions

• I had to add the post-receive hook because updates from the assistant were not trigger the annex-content hook. Should they trigger it?
• Are there downsides to merging synced/master like this?
• If I want to edit files on the server, is it safe to edit them in the repo with this set up? Or should I create a second client repo on the server, check out the necessary files there, and then push them to the server like I would from any other client?