1. A method comprising: at a system generator tool, providing hardware usage restriction information; the system generator tool wiring a plurality of hardware components on one or more configurable hardware devices, the hardware components including restriction circuitry for restricting functionality or access to one or more of the hardware components; and the system generator tool coding a software usage restriction module into a software application of a processor, wherein the restriction circuitry is wired and the software usage restriction module is coded so that the restriction circuitry and the software usage restriction module cooperate together to restrict operation of the one or more hardware components based on the hardware usage restriction information.