Branch fails with error message

When attempting to run release:branch from my master branch I get an error message that the git commit failed.

It appears that when I run mvn release:branch from my master branch that when it tries to execute the commit after "modifying" the POMs that it fails because none of the POMs were actually modified initially (nothing to change for git to create the branch). Since the initial commit for preparing the branch fails no branch is created and the POMs in the master branch are not modified for the new development version.

Output:

[INFO] Transforming 'Focal'...
[DEBUG] No SCM translator found - skipping rewrite
[INFO] Updating runtime-libs to 2.4.7-SNAPSHOT
...
[INFO] Checking in modified POMs...
[INFO] Executing: /bin/sh -c cd /Users/odom/release/focal && git add – pom.xml ...
[INFO] Working directory: /Users/odom/release/focal
[INFO] Executing: /bin/sh -c cd /Users/odom/release/focal && git status
[INFO] Working directory: /Users/odom/release/focal
[DEBUG] # On branch master
[DEBUG] # Untracked files:
[DEBUG] # (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
[DEBUG] #
[DEBUG] # pom.xml.releaseBackup
...
[DEBUG] nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)
[INFO] Executing: /bin/sh c cd /Users/odom/release/focal && git commit --verbose -F /var/folders/3P/3PAWYpw+HQWPH0rThcSoQ++++TQ/-Tmp/maven-scm-549427758.commit pom.xml ...
[INFO] Working directory: /Users/odom/release/focal
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Unable to commit files
Provider message:
The git-commit command failed.
Command output:

[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[DEBUG] Trace
org.apache.maven.BuildFailureException: Unable to commit files
Provider message:
The git-commit command failed.
Command output:

at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:699)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeStandaloneGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:553)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:523)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalAndHandleFailures(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:371)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeTaskSegments(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:268)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.execute(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:181)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:356)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:137)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:362)
at org.apache.maven.cli.compat.CompatibleMain.main(CompatibleMain.java:41)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:315)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:255)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:430)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:375)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException: Unable to commit files
Provider message:
The git-commit command failed.
Command output:

at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.BranchReleaseMojo.execute(BranchReleaseMojo.java:186)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:483)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:678)
... 17 more
Caused by: org.apache.maven.shared.release.scm.ReleaseScmCommandException: Unable to commit files
Provider message:
The git-commit command failed.
Command output:

at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.ScmCommitPhase.checkin(ScmCommitPhase.java:133)
at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.ScmCommitPhase.execute(ScmCommitPhase.java:109)
at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.branch(DefaultReleaseManager.java:389)
at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.branch(DefaultReleaseManager.java:360)
at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.BranchReleaseMojo.execute(BranchReleaseMojo.java:178)
... 19 more