3. both rakudo and parrot are tracked on github, try it instead.

Yes, that is what I tried. The process seems to be --

1. use git to download rakudo source
2. run perl Configure.pl --gen-parrot, which, in turn, uses svn https to download whatever.

Hence, two different version control systems, and svn using https seemingly unnecessarily.

The easier it is to get started, the easier it will be to get into it and to like it and learn it.