1)

% git cl patch 558472 --gerrit
remote: Counting objects: 359870, done
remote: Finding sources: 100% (7259/7259)
remote: Total 7259 (delta 4849), reused 7167 (delta 4849)
Receiving objects: 100% (7259/7259), 9.10 MiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (4849/4849), completed with 1714 local objects.
From https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src
 * branch                      refs/changes/72/558472/4 -> FETCH_HEAD
error: addinfo_cache failed for path 'third_party/WebKit/Source/web/tests/data/mhtml/simple_test.mht'
Committed patch for change 558472 patchset 4 locally.
Note: this created a local commit which does not have the same hash as the one uploaded for review. This will make uploading changes based on top of this branch difficult.
If you want to do that, use "git cl patch --force" instead.


^^^ Note mention of --force. I'm not sure exactly which way force would go.. so I'd like to read what it does.


2)
% git cl patch 558472 --gerrit --help
Usage: git cl patch [options] <patch url or issue id or issue url>

Patches in a code review.


Options:
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         Use 2 times for more debugging info
  -b NEWBRANCH          create a new branch off trunk for the patch
  -f, --force           overwrite state on the current or chosen branch
  -d DIR, --directory=DIR
                        change to the directory DIR immediately, before doing
                        anything else. Rietveld only.
  --reject              failed patches spew .rej files rather than attempting
                        a 3-way merge. Rietveld only.
  -n, --no-commit       don't commit after patch applies. Rietveld only.

  Options for continuing work on the current issue uploaded from a different clone (e.g. different machine). Must be used independently from the other options. No issue number should be specified, and the branch must have an issue number associated with it:
    --reapply           Reset the branch and reapply the issue. CAUTION: This
                        will undo any local changes in this branch
    --pull              Performs a pull before reapplying.

  Auth options:
    --oauth2            Use OAuth 2.0 instead of a password. [default: use
                        OAuth2]
    --no-oauth2         Use password instead of OAuth 2.0. [default: use
                        OAuth2]
    --no-cookies        Do not save authentication cookies to local disk.
    --auth-no-local-webserver
                        Do not run a local web server when performing OAuth2
                        login flow.
    --auth-host-port=AUTH_HOST_PORT
                        Port a local web server should listen on. Used only if
                        --auth-no-local-webserver is not set. [default: 8090]
    --auth-refresh-token-json=AUTH_REFRESH_TOKEN_JSON
                        Path to a JSON file with role account refresh token to
                        use.

  EXPERIMENTAL! Codereview override options:
    --gerrit            Force the use of Gerrit for codereview
    --rietveld          Force the use of Rietveld for codereview


^^^ No mention of --force