From c9a582b43dd3e9b4bf4b6d742d2df2a0a63ecf96 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: samsucik <s.sucik@rasa.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2026 20:15:57 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] update POWO url and use curl as the API refuses to serve
 Python requests

---
 pykew/core.py | 76 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 70 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/pykew/core.py b/pykew/core.py
index 5af2578..736f894 100644
--- a/pykew/core.py
+++ b/pykew/core.py
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
+from urllib.error import HTTPError
 import requests
 import time
 import urllib
+import subprocess
+
 
 IPNI_URL = 'http://beta.ipni.org/api/1'
-POWO_URL = 'http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/api/2'
+POWO_URL = 'https://powo.science.kew.org/api/2'
 KPL_URL = 'http://kewplantlist.org/api/v1'
 
+class SearchError(Exception):
+    pass
+
 class Api:
     def __init__(self, url):
         self._base_url = url
@@ -17,19 +23,53 @@ def _url(self, method, params):
                 opt=urllib.parse.urlencode(params))
 
     def get(self, method, params = {}):
-        resp = requests.get(self._url(method, params))
+        # POWO doesn't like calls from Python, so use curl
+        if self._base_url == POWO_URL:
+            resp = self._get_using_curl(self._url(method, {k: v for k, v in params.items() if k != "cursor"}))
+        else:
+            resp = requests.get(self._url(method, params))
+        
         if resp.status_code == 249: # too many requests, retry after 5 sec
             time.sleep(5)
             return self.get(method, params)
         return resp
 
+    def _get_using_curl(self, url):
+        raw_response = subprocess.run(
+            ["curl", "-i", url],
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+        ).stdout
+        header_part, body = raw_response.split("\n\n", 1)
+
+        header_lines = header_part.splitlines()
+        status_line = header_lines[0]
+        _, status_code, *_ = status_line.split(" ")
+        status_code = int(status_code)
+
+        headers = {}
+        for line in header_lines[1:]:
+            if ":" in line:
+                k, v = line.split(":", 1)
+                headers[k.strip()] = v.strip()
+
+        response = requests.Response()
+        response.status_code = status_code
+        response.headers = headers
+        response._content = body.encode("utf-8")
+        response.url = url
+        response.encoding = "utf-8"
+
+        return response
+
 class SearchResult:
     def __init__(self, api, query, filters = None):
         self._query = query
         self._filters = filters
         self._api = api
         self._cursor = "*"
-        self._run_query()
+        self._max_retry_attempts = 3
+        self._run_query_with_retries()
 
     def _build_params(self):
         params = {'perPage': 500, 'cursor': self._cursor}
@@ -53,6 +93,24 @@ def _format_filters(self):
         else:
             return self._filters.value
 
+    def _run_query_with_retries(self):
+        if hasattr(self, "_results"):
+            del self._results
+        retry_attempt = 0
+        while retry_attempt < self._max_retry_attempts:
+            try:
+                self._run_query()
+            except HTTPError as e:
+                retry_attempt += 1
+                continue
+
+            if hasattr(self, "_results"):
+                return
+            else:
+                retry_attempt += 1
+
+        raise SearchError(f"Couldn't retrieve results within {self._max_retry_attempts} attempts. The last response was: {self._response}")
+
     def _run_query(self):
         params = self._build_params()
         response = self._api.get('search', params)
@@ -60,7 +118,9 @@ def _run_query(self):
         # before making subsequent calls
         self._wait_time = response.elapsed.total_seconds() / 2.0
         self._response = response.json()
-        if 'results' in self._response:
+        if self._response.get('totalResults') == 0:
+            self._results = iter([])
+        elif 'results' in self._response:
             self._results = iter(self._response['results'])
         if 'cursor' in self._response:
             self._cursor = self._response['cursor']
@@ -71,9 +131,13 @@ def __iter__(self):
     def __next__(self):
         try:
             return next(self._results)
-        except StopIteration:
+        except StopIteration as e:
+            # avoid repeated calls for POWO (they might still make sense for other apps – to be verified later)
+            if self._api._base_url == POWO_URL:
+                raise e
+
             time.sleep(self._wait_time)
-            self._run_query()
+            self._run_query_with_retries()
             return next(self._results)
 
     def size(self):