# exclude file.tar.gz anywhere in the directory tree to be tar'ed and compressed
find . -print0 | gnutar --null --exclude="file.tar.gz" --no-recursion -czf file.tar.gz --files-from -
find . -print0 | bsdtar --null --exclude="file.tar.gz" -n -czf file.tar.gz -T -
# bsdtar excludes ./file.tar.gz in current directory by default
# further file.tar.gz files in subdirectories will get included though
# bsdtar: ./file.tar.gz: Can't add archive to itself
find . -print0 | bsdtar --null -n -czf file.tar.gz -T -
# gnutar does not exclude ./file.tar.gz in current directory by default
find . -print0 | gnutar --null --no-recursion -czf file.tar.gz --files-from -