diff --git a/Documentation/git-p4.txt b/Documentation/git-p4.txt
index 6c0017e36e..f0a0280954 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-p4.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-p4.txt
@@ -177,8 +177,8 @@ Unshelving will take a shelved P4 changelist, and produce the equivalent git com
 in the branch refs/remotes/p4-unshelved/<changelist>.
 
 The git commit is created relative to the current origin revision (HEAD by default).
-If the shelved changelist's parent revisions differ, git-p4 will refuse to unshelve;
-you need to be unshelving onto an equivalent tree.
+A parent commit is created based on the origin, and then the unshelve commit is
+created based on that.
 
 The origin revision can be changed with the "--origin" option.
 
diff --git a/git-p4.py b/git-p4.py
index 76c18a22e9..1998c3e141 100755
--- a/git-p4.py
+++ b/git-p4.py
@@ -1306,6 +1306,9 @@ def processContent(self, git_mode, relPath, contents):
             return LargeFileSystem.processContent(self, git_mode, relPath, contents)
 
 class Command:
+    delete_actions = ( "delete", "move/delete", "purge" )
+    add_actions = ( "add", "move/add" )
+
     def __init__(self):
         self.usage = "usage: %prog [options]"
         self.needsGit = True
@@ -2524,7 +2527,6 @@ def map_in_client(self, depot_path):
         return ""
 
 class P4Sync(Command, P4UserMap):
-    delete_actions = ( "delete", "move/delete", "purge" )
 
     def __init__(self):
         Command.__init__(self)
@@ -2612,20 +2614,7 @@ def checkpoint(self):
         if self.verbose:
             print("checkpoint finished: " + out)
 
-    def cmp_shelved(self, path, filerev, revision):
-        """ Determine if a path at revision #filerev is the same as the file
-            at revision @revision for a shelved changelist. If they don't match,
-            unshelving won't be safe (we will get other changes mixed in).
-
-            This is comparing the revision that the shelved changelist is *based* on, not
-            the shelved changelist itself.
-        """
-        ret = p4Cmd(["diff2", "{0}#{1}".format(path, filerev), "{0}@{1}".format(path, revision)])
-        if verbose:
-            print("p4 diff2 path %s filerev %s revision %s => %s" % (path, filerev, revision, ret))
-        return ret["status"] == "identical"
-
-    def extractFilesFromCommit(self, commit, shelved=False, shelved_cl = 0, origin_revision = 0):
+    def extractFilesFromCommit(self, commit, shelved=False, shelved_cl = 0):
         self.cloneExclude = [re.sub(r"\.\.\.$", "", path)
                              for path in self.cloneExclude]
         files = []
@@ -2650,17 +2639,6 @@ def extractFilesFromCommit(self, commit, shelved=False, shelved_cl = 0, origin_r
             file["type"] = commit["type%s" % fnum]
             if shelved:
                 file["shelved_cl"] = int(shelved_cl)
-
-                # For shelved changelists, check that the revision of each file that the
-                # shelve was based on matches the revision that we are using for the
-                # starting point for git-fast-import (self.initialParent). Otherwise
-                # the resulting diff will contain deltas from multiple commits.
-
-                if file["action"] != "add" and \
-                    not self.cmp_shelved(path, file["rev"], origin_revision):
-                    sys.exit("change {0} not based on {1} for {2}, cannot unshelve".format(
-                        commit["change"], self.initialParent, path))
-
             files.append(file)
             fnum = fnum + 1
         return files
@@ -3032,7 +3010,7 @@ def hasBranchPrefix(self, path):
             print('Ignoring file outside of prefix: {0}'.format(path))
         return hasPrefix
 
-    def commit(self, details, files, branch, parent = ""):
+    def commit(self, details, files, branch, parent = "", allow_empty=False):
         epoch = details["time"]
         author = details["user"]
         jobs = self.extractJobsFromCommit(details)
@@ -3046,7 +3024,10 @@ def commit(self, details, files, branch, parent = ""):
         files = [f for f in files
             if self.inClientSpec(f['path']) and self.hasBranchPrefix(f['path'])]
 
-        if not files and not gitConfigBool('git-p4.keepEmptyCommits'):
+        if gitConfigBool('git-p4.keepEmptyCommits'):
+            allow_empty = True
+
+        if not files and not allow_empty:
             print('Ignoring revision {0} as it would produce an empty commit.'
                 .format(details['change']))
             return
@@ -3387,10 +3368,10 @@ def searchParent(self, parent, branch, target):
         else:
             return None
 
-    def importChanges(self, changes, shelved=False, origin_revision=0):
+    def importChanges(self, changes, origin_revision=0):
         cnt = 1
         for change in changes:
-            description = p4_describe(change, shelved)
+            description = p4_describe(change)
             self.updateOptionDict(description)
 
             if not self.silent:
@@ -3460,7 +3441,7 @@ def importChanges(self, changes, shelved=False, origin_revision=0):
                                 print("Parent of %s not found. Committing into head of %s" % (branch, parent))
                             self.commit(description, filesForCommit, branch, parent)
                 else:
-                    files = self.extractFilesFromCommit(description, shelved, change, origin_revision)
+                    files = self.extractFilesFromCommit(description)
                     self.commit(description, files, self.branch,
                                 self.initialParent)
                     # only needed once, to connect to the previous commit
@@ -3957,7 +3938,6 @@ def __init__(self):
         self.verbose = False
         self.noCommit = False
         self.destbranch = "refs/remotes/p4-unshelved"
-        self.origin = "p4/master"
 
     def renameBranch(self, branch_name):
         """ Rename the existing branch to branch_name.N
@@ -3989,6 +3969,32 @@ def findLastP4Revision(self, starting_point):
 
         sys.exit("could not find git-p4 commits in {0}".format(self.origin))
 
+    def createShelveParent(self, change, branch_name, sync, origin):
+        """ Create a commit matching the parent of the shelved changelist 'change'
+        """
+        parent_description = p4_describe(change, shelved=True)
+        parent_description['desc'] = 'parent for shelved changelist {}\n'.format(change)
+        files = sync.extractFilesFromCommit(parent_description, shelved=False, shelved_cl=change)
+
+        parent_files = []
+        for f in files:
+            # if it was added in the shelved changelist, it won't exist in the parent
+            if f['action'] in self.add_actions:
+                continue
+
+            # if it was deleted in the shelved changelist it must not be deleted
+            # in the parent - we might even need to create it if the origin branch
+            # does not have it
+            if f['action'] in self.delete_actions:
+                f['action'] = 'add'
+
+            parent_files.append(f)
+
+        sync.commit(parent_description, parent_files, branch_name,
+                parent=origin, allow_empty=True)
+        print("created parent commit for {0} based on {1} in {2}".format(
+            change, self.origin, branch_name))
+
     def run(self, args):
         if len(args) != 1:
             return False
@@ -3998,9 +4004,8 @@ def run(self, args):
 
         sync = P4Sync()
         changes = args
-        sync.initialParent = self.origin
 
-        # use the first change in the list to construct the branch to unshelve into
+        # only one change at a time
         change = changes[0]
 
         # if the target branch already exists, rename it
@@ -4013,14 +4018,21 @@ def run(self, args):
         sync.suppress_meta_comment = True
 
         settings = self.findLastP4Revision(self.origin)
-        origin_revision = settings['change']
         sync.depotPaths = settings['depot-paths']
         sync.branchPrefixes = sync.depotPaths
 
         sync.openStreams()
         sync.loadUserMapFromCache()
         sync.silent = True
-        sync.importChanges(changes, shelved=True, origin_revision=origin_revision)
+
+        # create a commit for the parent of the shelved changelist
+        self.createShelveParent(change, branch_name, sync, self.origin)
+
+        # create the commit for the shelved changelist itself
+        description = p4_describe(change, True)
+        files = sync.extractFilesFromCommit(description, True, change)
+
+        sync.commit(description, files, branch_name, "")
         sync.closeStreams()
 
         print("unshelved changelist {0} into {1}".format(change, branch_name))
diff --git a/t/t9832-unshelve.sh b/t/t9832-unshelve.sh
index c3d15ceea8..41c09f11f4 100755
--- a/t/t9832-unshelve.sh
+++ b/t/t9832-unshelve.sh
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@ test_expect_success 'init depot' '
 		p4 add file1 &&
 		p4 submit -d "change 1" &&
 		: >file_to_delete &&
+		: >file_to_move &&
 		p4 add file_to_delete &&
-		p4 submit -d "file to delete"
+		p4 add file_to_move &&
+		p4 submit -d "add files to delete"
 	)
 '
 
@@ -36,6 +38,8 @@ test_expect_success 'create shelved changelist' '
 		echo "new file" >file2 &&
 		p4 add file2 &&
 		p4 delete file_to_delete &&
+		p4 edit file_to_move &&
+		p4 move file_to_move moved_file &&
 		p4 opened &&
 		p4 shelve -i <<EOF
 Change: new
@@ -47,6 +51,8 @@ Files:
 	//depot/file1
 	//depot/file2
 	//depot/file_to_delete
+	//depot/file_to_move
+	//depot/moved_file
 EOF
 
 	) &&
@@ -59,7 +65,9 @@ EOF
 		test_path_is_file file2 &&
 		test_cmp file1 "$cli"/file1 &&
 		test_cmp file2 "$cli"/file2 &&
-		test_path_is_missing file_to_delete
+		test_path_is_missing file_to_delete &&
+		test_path_is_missing file_to_move &&
+		test_path_is_file moved_file
 	)
 '
 
@@ -92,6 +100,18 @@ EOF
 	)
 '
 
+shelve_one_file () {
+	description="Change to be unshelved" &&
+	file="$1" &&
+	p4 shelve -i <<EOF
+Change: new
+Description:
+	$description
+Files:
+	$file
+EOF
+}
+
 # This is the tricky case where the shelved changelist base revision doesn't
 # match git-p4's idea of the base revision
 #
@@ -108,29 +128,52 @@ test_expect_success 'create shelved changelist based on p4 change ahead of p4/ma
 		p4 submit -d "change:foo" &&
 		p4 edit file1 &&
 		echo "bar" >>file1 &&
-		p4 shelve -i <<EOF &&
-Change: new
-Description:
-	Change to be unshelved
-Files:
-	//depot/file1
-EOF
+		shelve_one_file //depot/file1 &&
 		change=$(last_shelved_change) &&
-		p4 describe -S $change | grep -q "Change to be unshelved"
+		p4 describe -S $change >out.txt &&
+		grep -q "Change to be unshelved" out.txt
 	)
 '
 
-# Now try to unshelve it. git-p4 should refuse to do so.
+# Now try to unshelve it.
 test_expect_success 'try to unshelve the change' '
 	test_when_finished cleanup_git &&
 	(
 		change=$(last_shelved_change) &&
 		cd "$git" &&
-		test_must_fail git p4 unshelve $change 2>out.txt &&
-		grep -q "cannot unshelve" out.txt
+		git p4 unshelve $change >out.txt &&
+		grep -q "unshelved changelist $change" out.txt
 	)
 '
 
+# Specify the origin. Create 2 unrelated files, and check that
+# we only get the one in HEAD~, not the one in HEAD.
+
+test_expect_success 'unshelve specifying the origin' '
+	(
+		cd "$cli" &&
+		: >unrelated_file0 &&
+		p4 add unrelated_file0 &&
+		p4 submit -d "unrelated" &&
+		: >unrelated_file1 &&
+		p4 add unrelated_file1 &&
+		p4 submit -d "unrelated" &&
+		: >file_to_shelve &&
+		p4 add file_to_shelve &&
+		shelve_one_file //depot/file_to_shelve
+	) &&
+	test_when_finished cleanup_git &&
+	git p4 clone --dest="$git" //depot/@all &&
+	(
+		cd "$git" &&
+		change=$(last_shelved_change) &&
+		git p4 unshelve --origin HEAD~ $change &&
+		git checkout refs/remotes/p4-unshelved/$change &&
+		test_path_is_file unrelated_file0 &&
+		test_path_is_missing unrelated_file1 &&
+		test_path_is_file file_to_shelve
+	)
+'
 test_expect_success 'kill p4d' '
 	kill_p4d
 '
