Insert a new branch between two existing branches

Question

I currently have two branches, Parent(Main) and Child(Release). I need to inject a new branch between Parent and Child, making it Parent(Main), Child(Intermediate), and Grandchild(Release). I know I can accomplish this through the following steps:

1. Rename Release to Intermediate
2. Create a new branch from Intermediate and call it Release

Unfortunately, the branch rename process has done unexpected things in the past with change history. Is there any alternative?

Answer 1

Renaming is the proper way to go here and you are correct that renaming the root of a branch can cause problems in future merges. There is a good article here that describes the potential problems and how to work around them.