Squashed 'wicker/' changes from b58cbb1..825e8f8

825e8f8 Added TheFrontEnd to the wicker env

git-subtree-dir: wicker
git-subtree-split: 825e8f8865de53efcba2b07cd37ffecec14e0298
(wicker) Added TheFrontEnd to the wicker env.
some code housekeeping