Almost every frontend out there has a completely misguided idea about how they should work. Long story short, frontends should have no dependency on a particular binary.
Tying frontends to specific versions of software has to be one of the dumbest things the community ever did. It's the equivalent of tying a file browser to a specific file extension. Makes zero sense. Frontends should be binary agnostic.
That's why I just kind of shake my head at the recent enhancements done to MAME's default GUI. Sure, it's cute, but it's ultimately just such a waste of talent. In the real world, even if MAME's default UI was perfected into the most awesome thing ever, it's still just for MAME, and any arcade cabinet or HTPC setup you create is going to want to run binaries besides just MAME.