Warning: Possible Silly Question....

OK, just wondering....if I see an app that's available for Debian on x86 PC's, how difficult/much work is it for a developer if I ask them to provide (recompile?..) a version that would run on our lil' N900??

Would like to know how silly or not this question is before I pose it to some developers of some commercial apps that do have linux versions.....

Thanks,

Mark